Raccoon's Destruction
by Ciel Noir
Summary: Based on the Resident Evil Outbreak series: As the 1998 T-virus outbreak closes in on Raccoon City, Alyssa Ashcroft and four other survivors band together to escape.
1. Final Edition

_Author's note: This story is based on the Resident Evil Outbreak game. However, certain events differ from those in the game, because I thought it was more important to try to write a good story than to follow every event religiously. Some in-game events seemed too 'video game-esque' to put into words, so I have added some of my own events, while trying to follow the main story appropriately. I hope you enjoy reading it!_

* * *

Thursday 24th September 1998, Raccoon City

When Alyssa opened the door to her apartment building and stepped inside, it was almost morning. Carefully, she peered inside and looked around before motioning to the man behind her to follow. They walked across the lobby to the elevator, and as they waited, he leant across and whispered something in her ear. She laughed abruptly in the near darkness and they stepped inside, riding to the eighth floor and then walking straight across to her apartment. She let him inside and then followed, slamming the door behind.

* * *

A few hours later, Alyssa woke up to the sound of a door closing. It was heavy, slow – unmistakably the front door. The alarm was sounding, and when Alyssa turned it off she could hear the chorus of birds in the park across the street. She could hear the ping of the elevator arriving, the click of footsteps, the mechanical sound of the doors closing, and then the birds again.

When Alyssa put her coffee cup in the dishwasher, and after having showered, dressed and picked up her laptop and briefcase, she left her apartment and went downstairs. She stepped into her car, a silver Honda Civic, and began the short journey to work. Detached houses gave way to rolling hills, abundant green in the suburban surroundings she had lived in all her life. In ten minutes she was downtown Raccoon City, and she parked her car outside a café, buying another coffee and a copy of the morning paper before hurrying back to the car to avoid the rain. In semi-darkness, she spread the newspaper on her lap and stared at it as she sipped her latte. She was early, which, considering she was out late most nights, was very rare for her. Today, however, was special. On the front page of the _Raccoon Today _was the latest development in the city's biggest story in living memory. And, today, it was her story.

At the top, in full colour, was the photograph she had taken herself, after hours of trekking through the Arklay Forest - against the strong advice of her colleagues. In it, police tape stretched in a tight square around a group of trees. In the middle, two officers could be seen speaking to each other, one with his hand over his mouth.

The second coffee, mixed with the heady excitement of her latest journalistic breakthrough, had started kicking her brain into motion. Alyssa had been dreaming about landing a sensational front-page story since she started, and today's would be on everyone's lips. No one could fail to notice the disappearances in the forest over the summer, least of all the Raccoon Police Department. People in town were found murdered with alarming frequency, and alleged sightings of strange creatures stalking the streets at night only added to the public frenzy. And, of course, the whole episode had reached a climax when the illustrious Spencer Mansion had suddenly exploded in the middle of the night back in July. Since then, people had continued to disappear, and the consensus was that it all had to come to some kind of climax in the near future.

This story was her chance, she knew it. So it was that the usually nocturnal Alyssa Ashcroft found herself sitting in her car before work at daybreak. Every weekday her editor held meetings in the morning and evening to discuss the paper's current agenda. The murders were the main topic, of course. But, being a local paper, seasonal events and human interest stories still dominated the bulk of the day's news. This story was a big chance, and she had to take it seriously.

Finishing her coffee, Alyssa stuffed the paper cup down the side of her seat and started the car again. It was a short drive up Main Street to the press office, and she felt wide awake now. She pulled up to the building, unremarkable against the backdrop of almost identical structures which made up the bulk of Raccoon's commercial district. It was easy enough to find a parking space so early; clearly, few others would bother with the meetings today. Sitting in the car park, Alyssa took a moment to think about the task ahead of her. She took a deep breath and as she stared out of the window. It had stopped raining now, and drops of moisture slid down the windscreen, obscuring the view ahead. At this time of day, the car park sat in the shadow of the office block. Alyssa stepped out and looked around, searching for one car in particular. There were half a dozen, most of them undistinguishable apart from the red Lexus Coupe belonging to her editor. Not finding what she was looking for, Alyssa continued towards the front door.

Inside, she strode confidently towards the lift at the back of the reception room and was startled by an excruciatingly cheerful voice from behind the front desk.

"Ms Ashcroft!"

Alyssa turned and faced the woman staring at her.

"Hi, Anita."

"How are you doing? I have to say, I'm pretty surprised to see you here so early! I guess this is a big day for you though. I saw the article, it's great. Tony will be happy."

Alyssa gave a blank smile and nodded. The lift arrived quickly and she stepped inside without another word. Anita gave an animated "Bye!" as the doors closed. Alyssa closed her eyes and let her head tip back, enjoying a brief moment of peace. This quick exchange with the receptionist reminded her why she avoided mornings; conventional social rituals were, simply, distracting. She had bigger things on her mind today.

The lift doors opened and Alyssa stepped out into the second floor hallway. As she walked to the far end of the hall, she passed empty glass-fronted office cubicles, the drone of idling PCs filling the room. She stopped, straightened her suit jacket and took one final breath before stepping into the conference room. She was right, few people had bothered to come in this morning. Five journalists sat together, sipping coffees and chatting, and across the table, a thin, grey-haired man was flipping through files busily and making notes. He looked up and smiled as Alyssa walked in.

"If it isn't the lady of the moment! Good morning, Ms Ashcroft."

"Hi, Tony. Busy morning?"

"You have no idea."

Alyssa noticed a line of empty cups in front of Tony Daniels.

"Where is everyone?" Alyssa asked, sitting down and powering up her laptop.

"Sick, apparently. And it doesn't help that my other star reporter is locked up in a police cell in the middle of our busiest season in a decade."

"Ben?"

Tony nodded.

"He was caught snooping around the RPD last night, wouldn't even tell me what lead he was following. Something big, the guy seemed pretty confident."

Sarah, the only other woman in the room, piped up:

"What did he do? Try and bribe the Chief for a lead?"

Everyone laughed. It certainly wasn't beyond the realms of possibility as far as Mr Bertolucci was concerned.

"All I know," Tony said, "is Ben used his one phone call to let me know he'd be spending some time in the RPD, and not to expect him at work for the next few days."

Alyssa frowned.

"Anyway," Tony began, "let's get on with today's agenda. Alyssa, fantastic work on the city slayings story, I think you've just upped the excitement on this one five-fold."

Alyssa didn't look up, she was busy signing on to her computer and opening a word processor to start taking notes.

"I guess it's hard to say where to go from here. We had a call last night from some woman, says she was on her way home from the store and saw a very strange bald man hanging outside South Raccoon Station, covered in blood. Sounds like it could be our 'night stalker'. You happy to follow up on this one, Alyssa?"

Alyssa nodded, and noted the woman's address. An eyewitness interview would be an ideal follow-up to today's summary. Of course, this housewife could have been high on crack last night, or telling tales to grab some attention. She would have to gauge it when she paid her a visit later. But the pieces of this story were falling into place just as expected, and Alyssa could already envisage months of further work oozing from this murder mystery. If she played it right, she could be writing for the New York Times by this time next year.

"Not much else for you today, guys. Jacob, are you good for tonight's game between the Racoon Sharks and the Old Court Thunders?"

"Sure thing, boss."

"Should be a good one. It's been a quiet week for sports, thank God people in this town are still stupid enough to go walking in the forest at night with a serial killer around, huh."

Alyssa had already switched off mentally when Tony started working through his list of filler stories: the mayoral elections next month, the teachers at Raccoon High threatening another strike, the alarming rise of the local bird population.

"If you don't mind, Mr Daniels, I'm gonna get on with my research for my interview."

"Of course, Alyssa, don't you waste a minute. I spoke to the woman on the phone for a little while last night, her story sounds pretty interesting. I'm counting on you to keep this place afloat"

"No pressure, then!"

The staff shared a polite laugh as Alyssa closed her laptop and headed out of the conference room. Reaching the lift, she stopped and turned to the left, deciding to take the fire escape to avoid having to see the receptionist again.

Spending the rest of that morning back in her favourite café, Alyssa sifted through all the articles she had written on the murders to date, taking notes, and organising questions for her interview. At midday, she had her questions formed and it was late enough to phone her witness. Opening her briefcase, she took her mobile phone, pulled the aerial up and dialled the number Tony had given her for Mrs Murphy. After a short conversation, they arranged to meet at her house at 1:30PM. Alyssa hung up and ordered another coffee.

* * *

Almost an hour and a half later, Alyssa pulled up outside a large detached house on the other side of town. It was wooden and painted red, with blue window shutters and a generously sized front garden. She was in the oldest part of Raccoon, where the town had originated. This area was popular with large middle class families, although properties in the neighbourhood were shockingly cheap for their size. The white picket fences and double-car driveways were almost alien to Alyssa.

She checked her phone for the time, and saw she was early. Another hour sitting with the Racoon Today crossword and her own thoughts had begun to numb her senses, so she had left the café early and began the drive to this strange part of town. Alyssa climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. The garden had been completely cleared of autumn's first leaves, apparent in most of the neighbour's gardens. But it was littered with familial artifacts; a pile of women's magazines resting on the arm of a sun lounger, a dog kennel, a doll. The whole place reeked of normality. Alyssa reached the front door and knocked sharply. Almost immediately she heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards her and the door swung open to reveal a sweat-drenched woman wearing a pink tracksuit.

"Hello?" she said.

"Mrs Murphy? I'm Alyssa Ashcroft, we spoke on the phone."

Sitting in the living room, Alyssa waited as Mrs Murphy went to the kitchen to make coffee. The inside of the house was as she would have expected: neat, homely, and somewhat feminine. Alyssa wondered what kind of man Mr Murphy was. She laid her laptop next to her and took her notepad from the briefcase, flicking through pages and making multiple, almost unconscious connections in her mind as she revised the questions she was going to ask. Mrs Murphy appeared with a tray and laid it on the coffee table, taking a seat on the sofa opposite. Alyssa picked up her cup and took a sip, peering at Mrs Murphy as she took her own drink. A Jack Russell puppy had followed her in, and he curled up and quickly went to sleep at her feet. Alyssa put her cup down and began the interview.

"Thank you for having me, Mrs Murphy. What I'd like to do today is just a simple Q and A, to get a sense of what you saw and how it relates to my story. How does that sound?"

"Yes, that's fine…" she began. "Please, call me Sally."

"Sally, okay. If I could just start by getting a sense of what you were doing when you witnessed this man you mentioned."

"Sure. Well, I was driving home, it must have been about a quarter to ten because I pick my son up from soccer at half nine. I stopped at the grocery store for about five minutes and my son waited in the car, this was at the S-Mart, just by the school."

"And that's where you saw him?"  
"No. I got back in the car with my groceries and drove for another minute or so before I stopped at a red light, just outside the subway station."

"South Racoon Street?"

"Yes. So I stopped at the light and it seemed to be taking forever. The light wasn't changing, so I looked around and noticed a man coming out from the subway."

"This was the one you told us about? The bald man?"  
"Yes. I was curious when I saw him. He looked like a bum, tattered clothes and all. And he had the strangest eyes. I mean, I don't know if it was the street light or if he was drunk or what, but he looked so violent…"

As Sally spoke, Alyssa was nodding all the time, her hand racing back and forth across her notepad as her mind translated everything into shorthand. When she stopped, Alyssa looked up and prompted her,

"So what did you do next?"

"Well, I couldn't move without running the red light, so I just stared at him. He stopped when he came out of the subway and just looked around a bit. He looked so _stupid_, I don't know how else to describe it. He wasn't moving, but I slowly reached over and locked the doors. Then he looked at me!"

"He looked at you? Did he seem threatening? You mentioned he was covered in blood."

"Yes, that's not an image I'll forget soon. His face was red, and the front of his shirt, too. He looked like he's been puking blood! When I locked the door he looked at me suddenly and started running for the car."

Sally was animated now, making hand gestures to show what was happening.

"And then what?"

"I'm sorry, but I floored it and ran the light. This all happened in, I don't know, thirty seconds? But I didn't want that man anywhere near my son. I sped up and didn't look back until I got home."

Alyssa smiled at Sally's apology for running the red light. Who did she think she was, the police? Alyssa wondered what she would think of the lockpicking tools in her briefcase. She wouldn't include a detail like a driving felony in her article. It all, however, added to her overall impression of the woman. The story of a boring housewife getting hysterical over a little run-in with a local homeless man was amusing, almost trivial. Then again, her story needed credibility as much as sensationalism.

"So you got a pretty good look at him? I don't suppose many people were around at that time?"

"No, there was no one. Can you imagine? All alone on that long street with that man lurking next to me?"

"I can't imagine. Did your thoughts turn immediately to the serial murderer?"

"Well, no. I don't know what I was thinking, really. The man startled me, to be frank. I was pretty shook up when I got home, so I just got my son inside, locked the door and told my husband. I even left my groceries in the car, the milk was bad this morning."

"Okay. If we could just go back to the encounter…Could you describe the man in more detail?"

"Well, I can't remember what he was wearing, except that his clothes were ruined. I think they were brown, like he'd fallen in the mud or something. His face was kind of expressionless until he looked at me. Then he seemed angry, and I couldn't understand why, I was just sitting there. He must have been drunk or something."

"And the blood, there was lots of blood?"

"Yes, that was the scary thing really. I mean, what had happened to him? Maybe he was in a fight or something. I dread to think...If he really is the serial killer, what had he just done?"

* * *

Driving back from her interview, Alyssa couldn't help smiling. It was barely mid-afternoon and she already had tomorrow's story completely formed in her mind. Whether Alyssa personally believed it had merit was unimportant. It would be more front-page material, without a doubt. The raw data sat right next to her, scribblings she would just have to write into a comprehensible article by the evening. Far from daunted, she was itching to get the thing written so she could walk into the office and hand in what she knew was very good stuff.

Alyssa's thoughts were interrupted by her ringing phone. She quickly stopped the car on the quiet residential road and answered it. She knew without looking at the screen it was her editor, it always was.

"Hello Tony."

"Alyssa. How was the interview?"

"Fantastic. But you could have warned me how damn average the woman was."

Tony laughed. He was used to Alyssa's temperament concerning what she called _average people_.

"Yeah, she didn't sound like the brightest bulb. But you got a good story out of her?"

"Yes, it sounds like she was lucky to have been in the car when she saw him. She didn't want to call the police because she ran a red light to get away from him, but of course they'll contact us when they find out we met a possible eyewitness to the guy they're after."

"I can deal with that, but things are a little more complicated. Sarah is at South Raccoon Street right now. Looks like baldy did kill someone."

Alyssa almost dropped the phone.

"Are you there?"

"Yeah, I can't believe it…What happened?" she asked.

"It's still unclear, but Sarah told me to make room on tomorrow's cover, because this one looks messy."

"This is unreal. Has she seen the body? Are they letting her inside?"

"No, but Sarah will do her best to at least get a statement. The rest we can spin: another murder, how safe are we to walk the streets, where will he strike next, et cetera."

"Wow, well. I'm just going home now to write up my interview. I guess I'll see you both back at the office tonight."

"Yeah, do your best with it, kid. But I don't imagine we'll have much problem selling papers tomorrow!"

After hanging up, Alyssa sat with the phone in her lap and stared out in front of her.

A few thoughts went through her mind. This phone call put things into perspective, because while she was busy conducting a Q and A with some housewife, Sarah was the first to hear about a fresh murder in the subway. But there was something else troubling her, something she couldn't pin down. Alyssa rubbed her temples, thinking about what to do. She had to shake this feeling if she was going to get this story finished in the next few hours. She started the car and continued back to her apartment, making her way out of the unfamiliar residential area and back onto Main Street. The mothers she had seen driving their children to school earlier were travelling home now. The familiar suburban landscape stretched out around her, and she was surprised to get home fairly quickly.

Arriving at the apartment, Alyssa put her briefcase and laptop down on the living room table and dropped onto the couch. Fatigue washed over her immediately, and she stared absently at the spacious room in front of her as she contemplated the task ahead. Forcing herself up, Alyssa sauntered over to the kitchen and, after toying with the idea of making a strong coffee and getting straight to work, she decided she would be better off taking a power nap. _I'm getting my body back into rhythm_, she told herself. Across the hall, Alyssa opened the door to the bedroom, undressed, and slipped into bed. Enveloped in the cool, dark air, she was asleep in five minutes.

* * *

Alyssa woke for the second time in the day. As before, the room was utterly dark, and she rolled over to look at the alarm clock. Alyssa stretched and lay back. Her notes were complete, and her article, now shoved out of the limelight by Sarah's discovery, could be written up within an hour. Getting out of bed, she dressed and then went to her laptop in the living room. She was about to open it when she stopped, paralysed by indecision. She looked up, through the enormous bay window which looked onto the park across the street. It was 6:15PM, and from her apartment, Alyssa could see the sun setting behind the mountains in the west. Hands on hips, she thought about where she'd like to work. Her laptop was a godsend, and these days she could even work in the park when it was warm outside. After a minute, her mind was made up, and she picked up her work materials and left her apartment for the last time.

J's Bar was one of few in Raccoon City Alyssa enjoyed visiting regularly. Just off Main Street, it was a few minutes from the subway and always drew a varied crowd. Stepping in from the dark street, she was greeted by the warmth and music, soft rock, but blaring a little too loudly from the wall-mounted speakers. The only waitress working, Cindy, was busy collecting glasses and didn't notice the new customer. Behind the bar, in the small kitchenette, Will the cook was speedily preparing a food order. There were only seven other patrons, two burly men at the bar and the rest scattered by themselves at the tables. High on the wall, the TV was turned to the news, barely audible above the sound of the music. Alyssa took a seat by the door, opened her laptop on the table, and began her story.


	2. Emergence

Cindy opened the door to Jack's Bar at 5:50PM, ten minutes before her shift was due to start. Stepping out from the September night, she ripped off her coat and scarf as the warmth of the room hit her. It was an unseasonably cold autumn, and a strong wind had blown against Cindy the entire length of her twenty-minute walk to work.

"_I gotta save up for a car," _she thought.

Coat in arm, she walked over to the bar to greet her co-workers.

"Hi Will, Marlene. How's it been today?"

"Dead" Will said, picking up a perfectly polished glass.

Indeed, there was a single customer in the bar, a young man wearing a black uniform with the familiar letters "RPD" printed on the back. He was facing away from Cindy, drinking a beer at a table next to the bar, staring at the sports news on the wall-mounted TV. She pointed at him and made an inquiring look at Will, to which he shrugged his shoulders. Kevin Ryman, a hot-headed local cop, had been blacklisted by Jack a few weeks ago for refusing to pay his tab.

"Weekdays, huh" Cindy said.

Marlene rolled her eyes in agreement.

"I'll just change and then you can go, Marlene. Where's Jack tonight?" Cindy asked.

"He's sleeping upstairs," Will said flatly. "Said he had a stomach ache and needed to lie down."

Cindy nodded, unsurprised. It was a running joke at the bar that Will, technically the supervisor, pretty much kept the place running.

Cindy opened the door to the employee area and headed upstairs. It was an expansive space, comprising a main lounge, locker room, smaller lounge, Jack's saloon (where he kept his rare collection of vintage alcohol) and even a small bedroom with a camper bed. The next floor up, enormous shelves full of what seemed like every beer, cider and spirit known to man were housed in an expansive warehouse. There was even a separate side room where the wines were kept. "_I'm lucky to work in such a nice bar,_" Cindy would think to herself, smile fixed firmly in place, when she was dealing with a particularly rude or perverted customer. Jack, who was only in his thirties, had bought the bar over ten years ago and furnished it with his traditional, expensive taste. The bar area downstairs was walnut panelled, and antique prints hung on the walls in gold frames. Jack's was famous in Raccoon for stocking rare and exotic wines and spirits, and he had taken what most would describe as a "classic" take on his choice of uniforms for his staff.

Cindy stepped into the locker room and began undressing. She opened her locker and took out her uniform. She slipped on a blue and white collared shirt, low-cut waistcoat, a black skirt that clung just above her knees and three-inch black pumps. Finally, she attached a black bow tie and her nametag. Cindy checked herself in the mirror attached to the inside of her locker, turning her blonde hair from side to side and making sure her ponytail was still held neatly in place. Satisfied, she hung her own clothes up and closed her locker for the last time.

Arriving downstairs, Cindy already had her trademark smile attached to her face.

"Time to work!" she announced to no one in particular.

"I'll catch you later, guys," Marlene said. She already had her jacket on and threw a baseball cap on her head as she left the bar.

"Have a good one," she said, opening the front door and stepping into the street, which was beginning to darken as the night closed in.

Although she was definitely an early-morning person, Cindy preferred working nights for the bigger tips. In the day, the bar served a lunch menu, created by Will, which brought in a decent revenue for Jack. But nights were always busier, and with her cheeriness and attention to detail, Cindy could always make decent earnings.

Half an hour passed and a few more customers started trickling in. Will was taking an order from two guys at the bar, a couple of rent-a-cops who always came in and ate like pigs but were friendly enough. Determined to stay occupied, Cindy circulated the bar, restocking the fridge, refilling the napkin holders and wrapping cutlery. A tall blonde woman Cindy had seen a couple of times before entered the bar, dressed, as usual, in a sharply tailored trouser suit and flat leather pumps, her straight hair freshly cut in an elegant short style. Cindy walked over, pen and pad in hand, to take her order. Another young woman dressed in a long overcoat and big round glasses entered the bar and slid past her quickly, heading straight for the bathroom.  
"What can I get you, miss?" Cindy asked, reaching Alyssa's table.

"I'll have a Manhattan" she replied, opening a laptop on the table in front of her.

"Of course, I'll be right back."

Cindy walked back to the bar and looked around for Will. He was known as the better bartender at Jack's, but he was presently wrestling with a giant silver dish in the sink, scrubbing furiously and swearing under his breath. Not that he wouldn't have been happy to stop what he was doing to give Cindy a hand, but she didn't want to bother him.

* * *

Dr George Hamilton, fresh off duty at Raccoon General Hospital, downed the last of his Scotch and slammed the glass down on the table. He came here because the alcohol was of fantastic quality, the best in town, he was sure. He could drink it quickly, and he had done so a lot in the past few weeks. George looked up as a blaring newsflash, audible even above the music, caught his interest.

"_There was a disruption earlier at today's football match between the Raccoon Sharks and the Old Court Thunders. Apparently the game was interrupted when an unruly fan got out of control and sparked a riot. The number of injured is not yet known, but more than fifty local law enforcement officers were called to the scene."_

George groaned and rubbed his forehead. Destruction, senseless violence; this was the kind of idiocy he had to deal with every day: Innocent people getting hurt because someone else lost their mind for a split second. He needed another Scotch. He flagged down the waitress, who noticed him but stuck up her index figure to indicate she'd be right with him, which would have seemed rude if she wasn't smiling so brightly. She was cute, he thought. Probably too young for him, but very cute. He began wondering how much one earned working in such an establishment. It couldn't be much, but she sure was a cheerful worker.

* * *

Cindy slid her hand along the length of her ponytail, a tic she had when she was a little unsure of herself. She took a bottle of Canadian whiskey, sweet Vermouth and bitters, poured them into a mixing glass and added ice. After stirring thoroughly, she strained it into a cocktail glass and dropped a cherry inside. She was pleased with the result, and was about to shout to Will and show him her handiwork when she saw him walk over to the employee lounge and disappear inside. Normally he'd never leave her alone in the bar, but three customers, including Officer Ryman, had left in the past fifteen minutes, and most of the remaining clientele seemed happy drinking and watching TV by themselves.

Cindy placed her new masterpiece on a tray and walked around the bar to deliver it to the sultry blonde sitting by the window. As she walked past Mark and Bob, she felt something small and hairy run along her ankles. The sensation sent a shiver right up her body, and with a small squeak, she sent Alyssa's Manhattan flying into the air. It smashed at her feet, and shock gave way to irritation as she let out a groan. Mark turned around and stared, his mouth full of food. Cindy and Mark exchanged a look and each shrugged their shoulders. At least this customer wasn't too bothered by rats. Cindy looked back to the bar and saw Will was back already. He gave her a wave and a wink, and she groaned as she headed to the kitchenette to get the broom.

Will placed his finished steak and fries on a plate and walked a meter to the bar to deliver it to Mark and Bob.

"You guys want some more drinks with that?" he asked politely. He could tell the older guy had had enough.

"We'll take another couple beers, thanks man," Mark replied.

Will grabbed two bottles of Budweiser and placed them on the bar before heading back to wash more dishes. Mark dug into his rib eye and fries with relish, chewing loudly and taking big swigs of his drink between bites. Mark was over fifty, Bob even older. Neither were the social type, but Mark convinced Bob to join him a night or two a week for drinks and a meal after work. The staff at Jack's were friendly, and he appreciated the bar's traditional charm, although he did suspect the bartender was a homosexual. Modern America was a confusing thing to Mark. He had always regarded his son's ability to cope with growing up in the strange society of the nineties with puzzlement and admiration in equal measure. He was thinking of his son as he finished his meal, dropping his cutlery loudly onto the plate, looking very pleased with himself. He glanced over and saw that Bob had hardly touched his food.

"Aren't you eating anything?"

"_Stupid cow. Where's that drink?"_

Alyssa looked around and saw Cindy walk over to the bar. She turned back to her laptop, winding straight back into work mode as she re-read the article. It hadn't even taken her an hour to get the first draft of her story done. She had plumped it out a little gratuitously with background information on the murders, but she knew that her editor was going to at least cut it in half to make room for Sarah's story tomorrow. Alyssa sat forward and began rereading the article.

"_I'm thirsty."_

She didn't notice the door open as another customer stepped inside. From her table, about ten feet from the door, a young man dressed in blue jeans and a matching denim jacket stood with his head down and his long, wavy hair falling over his face.

Cold air quickly filled the room and Alyssa looked up.

"_Close the door, moron. It's September."_

As Cindy tipped the remains of the cocktail glass into a bin behind the bar, Will walked over to an empty table and picked up a glass. He noticed the man standing in the doorway with his head down.

"What a weird customer."

Sitting close to where Will was standing, Mark turned around and looked towards the door.

"Who is this guy?" he said.

Next to him, Bob's body gave way as his arms slid across the length of the bar and he fell to the floor.

"Damn it!"

Mark stood up and knelt by Bob.

"He's unconscious," he said.

Cindy peered over the bar at the fallen man. George stood up and went to him, checking him over.

"How much has he had to drink?" he asked.

Alyssa sat watching as Will walked over to the weird customer, his nose scrunched up as he approached. Far from being a big guy, Will was nonetheless used to throwing drunks out into the street when they refused to be reasonable. But the moment he opened his mouth to talk, the guy was on him. He thrust himself against Will with such force he almost fell backwards, and before he could react the man wrapped his arms around him and soundlessly sunk his teeth into his neck.

"What are you doing?"

Will pushed the man towards the door, his teeth still in his neck.

"Get out of here!" he shouted.

The man staggered back into the street, and Alyssa watched astonished from the window as he fell flat on his back. Will quickly closed the door and locked it, his knees slumping into a pile of his own blood as he managed to wheeze, "What the hell…was that?"

Alyssa flew back from her stool as a body slammed against the window right next to her.

"_That man's dead, he's got to be dead," _she was thinking.

But he wasn't. This wasn't the man who had just attacked Will; this man's face was bubblegum blue, and he had a giant tear in his skin leading out of his mouth that looked so painful no normal human could possibly stand it. But this man was presently thrashing against the giant window, hands dumbly feeling along the length of it as he pressed his face against it. The sight was so shocking and disgusting that Alyssa barely noticed she was on the floor, looking up. She came to her senses when she heard the man next to her say "My God" in such a grave voice it was disturbing in itself.

"What's happened to him?"

Alyssa, finally managing to stand, looked at Cindy as she hurried over. She was almost crying as she spoke.

"He's had a chunk taken out of his jugular vein. Do you have a first aid kit?" George asked, speaking quickly and clearly.

"It's upstairs," Cindy said, turning around.

"Don't bother, he won't make it," George said.

He took off his suit jacket and stood on it at the armpit, ripping it up with surprising strength and taking the sleeve off in one motion. He quickly set to work tying the material around Will's neck, who was already unconscious.

Alyssa turned around and saw that Mark had managed to get Bob to his feet, his arm around him in a supportive stance. He looked awful, too. His eyes were half open and his head was leaning on Mark's shoulder. He looked like he wouldn't be able to stand on his own.

"_Bang."_

Everyone in the room looked towards the door.

"_Bang."_

Someone was slamming against it so hard it felt like the room was vibrating.

"_Bang."_

"Shit, help me push these tables," Alyssa said.

Alyssa quickly took her laptop and placed it on the ground. Cindy, the only other unoccupied person in the room, helped Alyssa move the tables, in fact shaped as barrels in keeping with Jack's rustic taste, in front of the door. They were heavy and wide, and they managed to fit two of them in front of the door.

"_Bang."_

The sound was softer as the door began hitting the tables, but with that much force Alyssa knew the lock would give in quickly.

"What are they doing?" Cindy whispered, barely able to speak as she stared at the gathering crowd on the street.

"The football riot," George said, holding Will's head in his lap. "It must have moved into the streets."

"_Bang."_

"_Those are no regular football hooligans," _Alyssa thought, looking back at the man who was still prostrating himself hideously against the window. She suddenly remembered her colleague Jacob was covering the football game tonight.

"_Bang!"_

The noise was different, louder than ever. Alyssa saw that the door was wedged open slightly, and the lock had finally broken.

* * *

Yoko Suzuki stood facing the mirror, hands on the sink. Around her were scattered the long strands of hair she had hurriedly cut off a few minutes ago. She looked at herself, evaluating her new look. Her straight, formerly shoulder length hair now fell down the sides of her face in a messy bob style.

"_It's not pretty, but it will do."_

The glasses, which she didn't need, were now sitting at the bottom of the trash can by the door. She had also removed her yellow Umbrella staff overshirt and skirt, changing into a pair of old jeans and a green blouse she had packed in her rucksack.

"_Hair, check. Clothes, check. I just hope they don't recognise this bag."_

The bag was something she certainly couldn't bring herself to throw away. Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, Yoko closed her eyes and recited a traditional Japanese meditation her mother had taught her. She didn't know the meaning of the words, but the familiar rhythm had its own sense for her. Yoko opened her eyes, forcing herself to smile. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the scissors resting on the sink and walked over to the trash can, throwing them on top of her discarded clothes.


	3. Outbreak

"We need to get out of here."

Mark's voice was momentarily distracting. He was holding Bob tightly, and it looked like if he let go he would collapse back onto the floor like a marionette.

"We can go upstairs," Cindy said. "Will has the key."

"_BANG."_

The door came off its hinges and fell sideways between the barrel tables and the wall. The bar was exposed to the street outside, and a familiar face filled the empty doorframe.

"Then hurry up!" Alyssa shouted.

Cindy bent down and fished around in Will's shirt pocket.

"It's not in that one," she said, reaching down into his trousers.

The denim man placed a filthy hand on the table in front of him and slowly dragged his body onto it. With a swift movement, Alyssa bent down and grabbed her laptop, clutching it to her chest as she edged back towards the bar, where Mark and Bob were standing. The wind from the exposed doorway breathed through the room, but apart from that there was a strange moment of silence as this man laboriously pulled himself over the table.

"My dear God," George said, standing up and letting Will's lifeless head hit the floor.

"I found it!" Cindy announced, clutching the key in her hand.

"You two take Will, I'll open the door," she said.

"Cindy…" George said, staring at her mournfully.

"What?" she asked, turning back.

"He's dead."

Cindy did not have time to fully react, because at that moment the denim man fell onto the floor at George's feet. He stepped back slowly, afraid to disturb the man who was presently just lying face down. After a second, the man stood up, for the first time raising his head properly to reveal a decaying face with glassy eyes and a pinkish substance oozing from his gaping mouth. Alyssa dropped her laptop and it hit the hard wooden floor with a disheartening _crack_.

"Stay back!" George ordered, his back hitting the wall.

The man looked straight at George then and immediately ran at him. Alyssa picked up the beer bottle Mark had been drinking and threw it, hitting the man in the head. The impact was strong enough to throw the man off course, and George had time to dive out of the way before he grabbed him.

"Jesus!" George shouted, ducking away behind the left side of the bar. Mark had managed to drag Bob to the employee door, and Cindy shouted a loud "Come on!" as she stepped inside. Alyssa and George made their way to the door as the denim man edged towards them, his hands outstretched. Alyssa heard the bathroom door open behind her and saw the girl who had come in earlier standing with a terrified look in her eyes.

In a rare act of protectiveness, Alyssa grabbed Yoko's hand and ran with her to the employee door. Cindy slammed it shut behind them and locked it, her hands working desperately fast despite how much she was shaking. Above the droning music, she heard multiple groans and footsteps. The people outside must have seen them come through here, she thought, but they weren't at the door yet. Breathing heavily, Cindy made her way up the flight of stairs to the employee area. She turned the corner and entered the main lounge area where the others were waiting. Bob was already on the couch, his head lying back against the headrest. Mark was sitting with him, his hand on his forehead. George, Alyssa and Yoko were standing above them, and they all turned around as Cindy appeared.

"Have they gone?" George asked.

"I don't think so, I heard them coming into the bar, a few of them," she responded.

"What are they doing?"

It was the first time Yoko had spoken. It was clear from her Midwestern accent that she hadn't grown up in Japan.

"I don't know," Cindy said, still out of breath. "They came into the bar and attacked my coworker. He's dead."

Yoko's face sank. Abruptly, Bob made a laboured groaning sound which was already sounding a little familiar to Alyssa's ears. She looked over at him, studying his features for the first time.

"Your friend looks really sick," Alyssa said, turning to Mark. "We should call an ambulance."

Cindy nodded.

"There's a phone in the bedroom," she said. "You guys wait here and I'll call for help…Would someone come with me?"

Alyssa eagerly volunteered.

The two women went quickly back into the employee entrance and down a short corridor to the bedroom. Cindy knocked on the door, a succession of tiny, fast knocks. When no one answered, she opened the door and stepped inside, Alyssa following. The bedroom was a decent size, but full of all sorts of Jack's clutter from work and home. The bed lay about a metre in front of the door. On it, Jack was lying spread eagle on his front, still fully dressed with his head facing away. Cindy approached the bed and shook him.

"Jack, the bar's been attacked!"

He didn't respond, and Cindy was suddenly terrified again.

"Jack! There's a riot outside!"

Making a noise which sounded like he had been asleep for decades, Jack lifted his head and turned to face them.

"Woahshit!"

Alyssa stepped backwards out of the room. It was the second time she had seen that expression up close; it was vicious and mindless. All the colour had drained from Jack's face and his eyes were unfocused and wild. Cindy, not saying a word, backed out of the room and carefully closed the door. They swapped a look and then made their way back to the employee lounge, walking closely together this time.

"Have you called an ambulance?" Yoko asked.

"No time…" Cindy said breathlessly. "Whatever got into that guy downstairs seems to have hit Jack, too."

"What?" George said, arms folded. "The owner's sick, too? Have you been poisoning people with your drinks?"

Cindy turned to George, shocked.

"What? No! I've never even seen that guy down there in here before."

"Hey! Bob ain't moving!" Mark said suddenly.

The dam burst the moment everyone turned to face the man lying on the couch. The employee door downstairs slammed open with a sharp bang, and about as quickly as everyone could turn their heads back round again, three pairs of feet thrashed up the stairs and stopped at the doorway to the lounge. The denim man, joined by two friends, stared with feverish eyes at the astonished group. His head rolled sickeningly around his neck as he staggered into the room, his equally demented-looking comrades following him.

Cindy, closest to the doorway, spoke first.

"Don't come any closer!"

She put her hands out in front of her to signal her defence, but the gesture was ignored as the men continued to approach.

As the killer approached Cindy, and she realised he wasn't going to stop, she dropped her hands and screamed. George, not a large man but fairly strong after years of regular exercise, stepped in front of her and barged into him with his shoulder. The man groaned and fell back slightly, then charged towards George at full speed. George fell back onto the floor, desperately struggling to keep the man's jaws away from him. Alyssa stepped forward and kicked the man in the side of the face, which made him groan again but didn't stop his desperate attack. Mark stood up and pulled the man off George with his large arms, swinging him slightly as he threw him against the wall. The two other men approached him, excited by the flurry of activity, and he punched each one square in the face with such force that Alyssa was sure he had rearranged their features some. Cindy was already at the door leading upstairs to the stockroom.

Alyssa ran after her, closely followed by Yoko. Mark helped George up quickly and they ran through the door to the stairwell. Cindy hadn't waited this time, and was already at the top of the stairs, opening the door to the storeroom. Mark slammed the door shut after George came through, tears falling down his face silently as he pushed the weight of his body against it. Within a few seconds, the monsters on the other side were smashing their hands frantically against the door. Mark prayed that Bob was already dead, for his sake.

"Can you hold them?" George asked. He was the only one who was still with him.

"For a bit. You go," Mark responded.

"What?"

"Just do it, I'll slow them down."

George didn't argue - the man looked like he knew what he was doing. He turned around and followed the women upstairs. Mark closed his eyes, focusing on what he was about to do. He waited for the sound of the man's hand to hit the door, then opened it with as much speed and strength as he could muster, but not before a withered but lightning-fast hand slipped through and tore along the length of Mark's hand with its fingernails. Mark crashed the door shut again as two men half fell inside. The sound was thunderous; he had probably broken one of their skulls. He hoped so.

Alyssa ran behind Cindy, who was hurrying along the length of the storeroom as quickly as she could in her tightly fitting skirt and heels. She could hear Yoko's sneakers slapping the floor directly behind her, but didn't look back. Cindy turned a corner and as Alyssa followed she saw that they had reached the end of the room. Shelves almost as high as the ceiling housed dozens of bottles, and the room was even big enough to contain a fork lift truck. Cindy was already fiddling with a switch on the wall. She held down a large button and a metal shutter along the wall began to open upwards. The shock of the past few minutes finally hit Alyssa as she stopped running, and she ran her hands through her hair, taking deep breaths. She turned as she heard more footsteps behind and saw George arrive, his face completely red. Cindy kept the button held down, the shutter edging upwards painfully slowly.

"Where can we go?" Yoko asked.

"This door leads to the roof. We might be able to get to the next building from there."

"The roof?" George asked, his voice shaking.

"We don't have a choice," Cindy stated.

Letting go of the button, Cindy bent down and ducked under the gap below the shutter. Alyssa and Yoko approached, Alyssa motioning for Yoko to pass through before her. She nodded, taking off her backpack and sliding it under before she squeezed through herself. Alyssa slipped under quickly and stood up at the foot of another staircase. Cindy was at the top, and Alyssa heard her open another door. The other women followed silently, and stepped through the door to the roof.

* * *

Mark slammed the door shut in the face of the man who had scratched him and, without even stopping to look at his wound, sprinted up the staircase to the storeroom and threw the door shut behind him. The sound resonated in the corridor of bottles. The weight of his back against the door, Mark held up his hand and looked at it. There were three straight, shallow lines running along the back of his left hand. The wound wasn't bad but already felt irritated, like it had been lying exposed on the filthy ground for hours. Behind him and below, Mark could hear a familiar banging. The men, possessed by whatever madness it was that was making them so violent, were apparently so acutely enraged that they couldn't stop long enough to turn the door handle and open it. Three pairs of hands were slamming it erratically but quickly, atrociously desperate to get to the other side. Mark took a deep breath and made his way to the end of the room, turning the corner to see that the others had already made their way through an open shutter. Reaching it, he found the gap was too small for him, and after a second he found the green button and the shutter continued its slow journey upwards.

* * *

The night air hit Alyssa's body suddenly, turning the sweat on her forehead cold and making her shiver. Strangely for her, she felt comfort in Cindy's leadership as she headed the group across the roof, which covered the entire area of the bar. A chain link fence surrounded the perimeter of the rooftop, and at the far end Alyssa could see giant letters spelling 'J'S BAR' in neon blue against the night sky. Up so high, there was little noise except for the battering of wings up above. Alyssa looked up and saw that three birds were circling the building. She couldn't be sure in the darkness, but they looked like crows. As the group approached the far edge of the rooftop, Alyssa began to hear another noise. As high up as they were, it was quiet, but as soon as she heard it she knew what it was. People below were screaming. It sounded like dozens, maybe hundreds of voices, so many that each melted into the next to create an endless, droning wail. But she couldn't see them past the fence and surrounding buildings.

Alyssa suddenly remembered the digital camera resting in her breast pocket. She took it out, turning it around in her hands to make sure it wasn't broken. It was an Olympus D-400 Zoom, which at 1.2 megapixels had been fairly expensive. Mercifully, she had remembered to charge it last night. The view from the building was pretty much completely blocked, but she made a mental note to use it later as she slipped it back into her pocket. She knew that her laptop was gone, but was relieved to have the camera.

"_Caught in a riot with no means to document it. Now that would be tragic,_" she thought.

Everyone turned around as the roof door slammed shut. Mark had arrived, and he was hurrying towards them now, his enormous body swaying as he moved.

"You're all okay," Cindy said.

Mark gave her a flat look as he approached, moving past her to the edge of the fence. Just beyond it, a raised ledge stretched to both sides of the front of the building.

"What now?" he asked, not turning back to look at her.

Cindy approached the fence and peered around to the left edge of the building.

"That apartment building is very close. If we can get up on that ledge, we could jump over."

Mark breathed heavily and looked up, the others following his gaze. The gaps in the chain link fence were too small to get a foot into, and Mark knew there was no way he was hauling his enormous frame over it.

"There's a bolt holding up that part with the sign in front of you," Cindy said. Her arms were folded and she was shivering. "Will kept complaining that some kids were breaking it to sneak into the bar, so he welded it shut."

Mark inspected the sign Cindy was talking about. A large lightning bolt symbol was labelled with the words 'Danger of Death'. Mark slammed the sign with his hands and the fence shook. He hit it again, then a few more times. Alyssa noticed the sound was making Yoko wince.

When Mark hit the fence again, it began to give way. He took a deep breath and ran at it shoulder-first, the force of his body forcing the lower part of the fence to cave in and leave large gaps either side of it. Mark led the way now as he squeezed through the left gap and clambered to his feet on the raised ledge. Cindy climbed through, followed by Alyssa, Yoko and finally George. Mark ran across the length of the ledge to the edge of the building, where, indeed, a gap not quite a metre long led to the roof of the adjacent building. Mark took a step back and ran forward, jumping to clear the gap easily. Cindy followed quickly, not allowing herself to think about the drop as she crossed it.

Alyssa peered over the unprotected edge to the alley three floors down. Mark stood at the other side, moving back to give Alyssa room. She took a small step back, as he had, and jumped, landing at his feet. He offered a hand and pulled her up quickly. As she stood, she heard a shrill bird call, quickly followed by an even shriller scream. Alyssa turned around to see a bird flapping just above Yoko's head. She was holding one hand in front of her face and thrashing the other blindly in front of her. George, standing behind, quickly reached over her head and grabbed at the bird's wing with a swipe of his hand. It let out a distressed series of squawks as it flapped away.

Yoko turned around, stunned, and faced George. She wiped her finger against her forehead and looked at it. Her fingertip was red and she stared at it in disbelief.

"Did that crow just try to eat me?" she asked.

George silently approached her and inspected the wound. He dabbed it with his shirt sleeve, fresh blood appearing slowly from the cut.

"It's not deep. We should hurry."

Yoko nodded and turned around, making her way to the end of the ledge. She stopped and stared at the gap. Alyssa saw her eyes open up like black holes.

"I can't," she said, still staring down.

"You have to," George said behind her.

The other three stood in a line away from the ledge on the other side.

"I'll catch you," Mark said.

He walked to the edge and put his arm out.

"Just jump and grab my arm," he said.

Yoko was suddenly embarrassed by the eyes on her and she nodded, although she felt no confidence at all. Without stepping back, she jumped with both feet and threw her arm out in front of her. Mark grabbed it quickly and pulled her across, her feet hitting the wall of the apartment building as she was dragged upwards and across. Mark helped her to her feet and smiled, and she forced herself to do the same. George made his way across soundlessly, making himself ignore his vertigo as he threw his body across the gap and landed next to Mark and Yoko, closely followed by another crow as it swept down towards the back of his head. Mark stepped behind him and flapped his arm in broad movements, which was enough to confuse the bird and make it stop and swoop upwards again.

"Go!" Mark shouted, moving George forward as he made his way towards the other side of the roof. Back at the head of the group, Cindy reached the door leading into the building first, and she ducked inside the small area with the elevator and hit the 'down' button as the others followed.


	4. Escape from Raccoon City

As the group made its descent towards the ground floor, Alyssa felt a mixture of relief and trepidation. The previous half hour had been complete madness, the kind of situation she wouldn't forget for the rest of her life. She already had enough material to write an article that would be the envy of every reporter in the city. She couldn't imagine anyone else working for _Raccoon Today_ had experienced the beginning of the riot quite as she had. She thought again of Jacob at the stadium and hoped he was alright.

The lift doors pinged open and revealed a narrow corridor leading to the right. Mark put one foot out of the lift first and peered outside. The short corridor formed the bottom of a T-shaped hallway leading to more apartments on the right and the exit on the left. No one was in sight, so Mark stepped out and motioned for the others to follow. He wished, not for the first time, that he hadn't had to hand in his gun at the end of his shift earlier today. The group filed out of the lift and followed Mark to the end of the corridor. He looked right, then left, then darted backwards, almost crashing into George.

"What is it?" George asked, startled.

"There's someone standing by the door," Mark said.

"So what?" George said.

"She's facing away. What if she's…sick?"

The group fell silent. Mark shrugged.

"I guess we better try talking to her."

As Mark was about to step around the corner, he noticed a small fire extinguisher on the wall and removed it. Extinguisher in hand, he stepped back around the corner and, still halfway concealed behind the wall, shouted, "Hey!"

The woman spun around, a mess of black hair swinging behind her. She looked about thirty, was plainly dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers, and had a large bloodstain dripping down from her neck.

"Oh…" Mark said.

The woman ran unsteadily up the corridor towards the group. Mark swung back behind the corner and, as she appeared, swung the fire extinguisher hard into her face. With a laboured groan, she fell flat on her back. Mark wasted no time in running around her and towards the exit, followed by the rest of the group. Alyssa looked down as she ran past and noticed the woman looked pathetically confused. Reaching the door, Mark opened it and jumped down four stone steps onto Terrence Avenue, which Jack's Bar also backed out onto. At the back of the group, Alyssa stopped at the door and turned around. The woman had stood up again and was looking at her. Alyssa quickly took her camera out, snapped a photo of her and stepped outside, closing the door behind.

The avenue was dark, shielded on either side by tall apartment buildings which obscured the bright lights of nearby Main Street. As Alyssa stepped down onto the street, a man and a woman holding hands ran past at full speed without stopping to look at the group standing there.

"What now?" Alyssa asked.

Cindy, not in a familiar environment now, felt as lost as the rest of the group.

"There, cop car!"

Everyone looked in the direction Mark was pointing and saw, about twenty yards down the street, a police car parked in front of a building. Mark started walking towards it and the rest followed. As they approached, it was clear that the car was empty. It was parked diagonally, half on the pavement, the emergency lights spinning soundlessly on top like red and blue turnstiles. Mark approached the car slowly and peered inside. It was definitely empty. He looked at the building in front of the car and saw that the front door was open. It was another apartment building, similar to the one they had just left. Knowing what could be inside, Mark approached the building, his steps unsteady under his tired body, and looked inside. The brown walls of the building's lobby were dimly lit by a single overhead light. There was no sign of life inside, and after deliberating for a second Mark stepped back onto the street.

"I ain't sure what to do now," he said.

"How far are we from the RPD?" Yoko asked.

"I'd say it's about five blocks that way," Mark said, pointing to the north.

From Main Street a few hundred yards away, the sound of traffic, horns blaring and many, many people shouting and screaming bellowed through the streets and avenues. Five blocks felt very far away indeed.

At that moment, someone appeared in the doorway. Mark saw him in his peripheral vision and swung around. Standing in the doorway, holding a pump-action shotgun, was a police officer. He was wearing the standard-issue uniform of blue shirt, black trousers and cap, and he stood breathing heavily as if he had been running.

"You," he said, looking from person to person, "are you infected?"

Everyone looked at each other, unsure how to answer.

"Have you been bitten?" the officer asked.

"No," Mark said. "None of us have been bitten, officer."

The officer exhaled and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"That's good," the officer said. "Once they bite you it's all over. I've seen it."

"What are 'they'?" George asked..

"I don't know what they are exactly, but they're killers. The only thing we've got on them is that they're slow and we're fast."

The officer noticed that Yoko was looking away pensively.

"Are you alright, miss?"

Yoko turned her head sharply.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said.

"What's that on your head? Did you get bitten?"

"Oh, this…" Yoko touched the scratch on her head again. "It was a bird."

"A bird, huh…"

The officer fell silent for a moment and then said, "As far as I know there ain't no danger in getting bit by a bird. But any of you get bit by one of those monsters and that's it, you'll be one of them."

The group fell silent again.

"So," the officer said, looking at each person again. "The way I see it, you're all my responsibility now. The Raccoon Police Department has issued an order to help evacuate as many people as possible from the city, effective immediately."

"Evacuation…It's really that bad?" Yoko asked.

"Yes, miss. There are localised riots taking place all over town. I couldn't even guarantee your safety in the precinct right now," the officer said. He stepped down from the doorway and onto the street with the rest of the group.

"There's an escort unit posted nearby. If you can squeeze into the car I'll take you there. I'm going to radio ahead and check the situation with the escort team. You all wait here a minute.

"Wait, sir…"

The officer stopped and turned around to face Mark.

"What is it?"

"My family, they're still up in Old Court. I have to go to them."

The officer's eyes widened and he hesitated before speaking.

"I, uh…wouldn't recommend you go up there. Warren Stadium was a complete bloodbath and a major riot's already spilled out from there. If anyone's still alive there, they'll already have been evacuated."

Mark's mouth opened in a horrored expression.

"I can't leave them."  
The officer put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

"I'm not heading up there. Trust me, your family will have been evacuated. If you come with me we can reunite you with them in Stone-Ville."

Mark nodded, but Alyssa wasn't at all convinced by what he said. The officer looked nervous as hell, which was anything but reassuring. Alyssa guessed by his young face and the way he spoke that he was a rookie cop, used to having a partner and suddenly finding himself alone in the middle of a crisis.

The officer looked around and then approached the police car, entering the driver's side. As he picked up his radio, Alyssa edged forward to try and listen in, but the conversation was barely intelligible to her ears. She looked back at the others. Mark sat down on the steps leading up to the apartment building and was studying his hand. Cindy and George were talking to each other, and George said something which made Cindy laugh. She looked over to Alyssa and smiled. Alyssa smiled back; she was genuinely relieved to be under the protection of the authorities, rookie or not. Alyssa looked over to Yoko and saw she was looking up to the sky with an expression on her face she wouldn't have been able to describe.

The officer stepped out of his car and opened one of the passenger doors.

"We're good to go," he said. "Are you coming or not, fella?"

Mark nodded.

"Right, let's go."

Cindy, George, Yoko and finally Alyssa piled into the back, and Mark entered the front passenger side. The officer put his gun in the trunk of the car and then got in the front. He started the ignition, pulled out into the avenue and drove away from the apartment building and Jack's Bar. Alyssa, squashed up next to Yoko, was particularly uncomfortable. Ms Suzuki was fairly short but had a large enough frame to make the drive quite difficult for her.

As the car turned off the avenue and onto Baker Street, Alyssa leaned forward and spoke to the officer.

"Excuse me, sir. But what were you doing in that apartment building back there?"

"Actually, I was responding to a 911 call. Someone was attacked in their apartment."

The officer spoke without turning around.

"What did you find?" Alyssa asked.

The officer paused for a moment before replying.

"Nothing to speak of," he said.

Alyssa had to stop herself from pressing him further.

"Where's the rendez-vous?" Mark asked.

The officer raised his eyebrows.

"The, uh, escort team is positioned on Ennerdale Street, in front of the RPD."

The car turned onto Fisson Street, a large crescent flanked by boutiques and a large hotel, The Apple Inn. As they drove past the hotel, Yoko budged in her seat, squashing Alyssa's thigh against the seat. She turned away from the window to face Yoko and was about to say something when the car turned abruptly to the right, throwing everyone in the back towards Alyssa's side with such force that in an instant she felt the air push out of her lungs. The car knocked something on the left side as it turned, and the officer drove away into another narrow alley, slamming the brakes as the car headed towards a mountainous stack of boxes and black bags which formed a wall in the street. The car came to a stop as the hood entered the wall of trash, sending a spray of household waste across the windscreen.

The officer craned his neck back and said, "Are you all okay back there?"

Alyssa pushed Yoko away from her with her elbow and said, "Great driving, officer."

"What was that?" Mark said.

"You saw it, too?"

The officer turned to the left and looked out of his window.

"What did you see?" George asked.

"I think it was a dog or something. Did I hit it?"

"You crashed us to avoid killing a _dog_? You idiot!" Alyssa said, not holding back on the intonation.

"It was instinctive. I'm gonna back out of here."

The officer reversed the car back onto Fisson Street, turning the car to face back up the crescent. He looked around the street and spotted someone walking on the pavement in front of the hotel. He cruised up and lowered the window.

"Hey! You there!"

The man didn't turn around and continued ambling up the street.

"Sir, did you hear me?"

The man kept walking for a few yards before a dog jolted up behind him and jumped, landing on his back and ripping at his shirt with its teeth.

Alyssa screamed and the others moved their heads to try and see what was happening.

"Shit, my gun. Stay here," the officer said.

He opened the door quickly and slammed it shut behind him. Running around to the back, he opened the trunk and grabbed his shotgun, walking back to the front of the car and pointing the gun at the dog. Alyssa saw that it was a big dog, possibly a Doberman, and it was digging its jaws into the man's back, although he was not making a noise.

"The officer put his fingers to his lips and whistled. As the dog looked up, the officer aimed with both hands and fired, blowing its head apart like a can of soup. The officer approached the body of the man lying face down and spoke.

"Sir, are you conscious?"

As the officer bent down to check the body, another dog appeared from the open doorway of a mini mart and jumped at him.

"Watch out!" Cindy shouted.

As the dog made contact with the officer, the shotgun flew out of his hand and skidded into the street. He screamed as it burrowed into the back of his neck and thrashed with its jaws.

"For Christ's sake, drive!" Alyssa screamed.

Mark hesitated in his seat, but even as the thought of getting out and helping entered his mind, he realised that the officer was already dead. Cindy was thrashing in her seat trying to open her door.

"It won't open!" she wailed.

The Ford Crown Victoria police car was equipped with secure locking, which meant that the back doors couldn't be opened from the inside. Mark scooted over to the driver's seat and crashed his foot down on the accelerator. The car screeched forwards and the dog looked up as it sped away. Mark continued speeding northwards around the crescent.

"What the hell happened there?" George asked, perched up in his seat and looking out of the rear window. "Why were they so aggressive?"

"Same reason that crow pecked my face, maybe."  
George looked down at Yoko.

"But it doesn't make sense. Why has every living creature lost it?" he said.

"We haven't," Yoko said.

"We have to go back! Let me out!" Cindy said pathetically.

No one spoke. Cindy let go of the door handle and started to cry.

Mark brought the car to a stop at the end of Fisson Street, where a police van was parked. On the opposite side of the street were the fortified walls of the RPD, the expansive precinct hidden behind. The area was ominously quiet. Mark stepped out of the car quickly and opened Cindy's door before making his way towards the officer standing by the van.

"This the escort group?" Mark said.

The officer, a man past his forties and with a weary look on his face, nodded affirmatively.

"Where is Officer Clark?"

"He didn't make it. Got attacked by a dog" Mark replied.

The officer shook his head.  
"We've lost too many good cops tonight. I'm supposed to head you out of the city. That your group?"

Alyssa was the last to leave the car, and almost fell over from the pain that rushed to her legs.

"Are you injured, miss?" the officer shouted.

"No, I'll be fine," Alyssa said.

"Okay, there are a couple of other survivors in the van. You guys get in the back and I'll take you to Stone-Ville.

The route from downtown Raccoon City to Stone-Ville was, in theory, a simple one. From Ennerdale Street, the police van made its way up the length of the expansive Warren Street, which housed City Hall and most of the city's big businesses. The downtown traffic was completely lawless. From the windowless back of the van, the group could not see the mess of police cars lining the pavement, but they could hear the screams and sirens, and more than once everyone jumped in their seats as people slammed their hands against the side of the van. After a harrowing few minutes the van finally managed to speed up and continue towards Raccoon Street.

"_I've got a headache just thinking about the article I'm gonna write,_" Alyssa thought.

The group in the back were joined by two young men, one of which was praying, the other looking like he wanted to throw up. The van turned sharply and the group rocked in the back as it turned onto Raccoon Street and sped up towards the city limits, running adjacent to the Raccoon-Stone-Ville railway line. At the Circular River Bridge, the van came to a stop.

"Is that it? Are we there?" Yoko asked.

Alyssa heard the front cab's door opening and slamming shut. A minute passed, and everyone sat expectantly, wondering if they were finally at the border of Stone-Ville.

The double doors at the back of the van were flung open and a face appeared that made everyone jump back. Peering into the van was a man wearing a full-face gas mask, helmet and black combat suit. He stared at the group with invisible eyes and they stared back. The officer who had been driving the van appeared next to him.

"No," the masked man said, and slammed the doors shut again.

Alyssa ran for the door and tried to open it, but, like the police car, the door could not be opened from inside. She frantically wrestled with the door handle and started banging her hands against the doors.

The officer stood facing the masked man with a hardened expression. Below them, the sound of the river filled the night air and a cold wind swelled through the trees below.

"Are you telling me we have to go back?"

"Yes, that's what I'm telling you," the masked man said, his nasal voice escaping the three ventilation chambers in the mask.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Your orders are to take these citizens back to the precinct. Your commanding officer will tell you what to do."

The officer managed a short laugh.

"Right now these people are about as safe in the hands of our chief as they are out in the street."

The masked man pressed his face close to the officer.

"I won't tell you again. You are to return to police headquarters immediately until further notice."

The officer looked back to the van, from which the sounds of hands pounding the doors could still be heard. He looked back to the masked man, shrugged his shoulders, and headed back into the van.


	5. Dark Oasis

As the officer drove back down Ennerdale Street and towards the RPD, he looked around him to check for any activity. The street had been cleared thanks to an aggressive effort by the department's Select Police Force, which was currently posted on buildings surrounding the RPD, sniper rifles scoping the length and breadth of the surrounding area for any unusual movement. The officer driving the van sighed with relief. He was actually looking forward to heading back for the station. As a senior officer he was expected to return to headquarters to help with the relief effort in the city, and that's what he had intended to do after escorting the citizens in the back of his van to Stone-Ville. Now all he had to do was explain to them that they were not leaving any time soon.

The van came to a stop at the precinct's front gate. Two officers unlocked the padlock and then pulled it open. The driver positioned the van so that the back was directly facing the gate, then turned off the ignition and stepped down from the cab. He wasted no time in moving to the back of the van and unlocking it. He pulled the door open and was greeted by six faces, some confused, others angry.

"Where the hell are we?" Alyssa barked.

"If you'd all please step down from the van in a fast and orderly fashion, we will explain the situation inside the station.

"The station?"

Alyssa looked past the officer to the station's front courtyard and the double doors with the large letters _RPD_ hanging over them. Alyssa looked back down to the officer standing there.

"What are we doing back here? I thought we were at Stone-Ville already!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm going to have to ask you all to come inside. We're not safe out here in the street."

Alyssa was about to speak again before she remembered what it meant to be out in the street right now. She soundlessly hopped down from the van and walked past the two officers at the gate, who motioned for her to continue to the door. The others followed: Alyssa, Yoko, Mark, Cindy, George and the two newcomers. The officer shut the van's doors again.

In the twenty-eight years Alyssa had lived in Raccoon City, she had never before set foot inside the Raccoon Police Department. She was all at once impressed, intrigued and suspicious. The grandeur of the front lobby rivalled any museum she had ever seen – the shiny, buffed steps leading down from the entranceway were flanked by ornate wooden banisters, and the front desk, some ten metres or so from the front door, was partially obscured by a large stone statue of a robed woman holding some instrument over her shoulder. As the last person entered the precinct, Alyssa asked herself how a small-town police department could justify being housed in such a beautiful and expensive building.

Alyssa turned around and saw that the driver had entered the station with them, leaving the other two to secure the gate and keep watch outside. The officer looked at each face before he spoke.

"If you could all please assemble in front of the statue, I'll explain everything in a minute."

Even Alyssa had been stunned into silence by the surroundings, and the group obediently walked down the few steps to the main lobby area and made their way towards a large RPD symbol on the floor towards the middle of the room. The officer said something into his radio and got a reply instantly. From behind the front desk, another officer appeared and walked down to meet the group in front of the statue. Alyssa wasn't usually one to go for the 'men in uniform' thing, but she couldn't help stare at this officer's face as he appeared. He walked with grace despite his tall frame, and he observed the new group in front of him with a look that was authoritative and impossible to ignore.

"Hi, I'm Officer Branagh. Welcome to the RPD."

Marvin Branagh began the speech he had already made a dozen times that day. He told the group that they were to stay in the precinct indefinitely, and that they would be looked after as long as the police force could possibly manage.

"Do you know what's going on out there?" George asked.

Marvin sighed. How many times had he been asked that? Certainly more than he had given this speech.

"I have about as much of an idea as you, buddy. More than half of the police force was called to an incident tonight at Warren Stadium, and very few returned. Why the population has turned on itself, I couldn't tell you."

George fell silent. Alyssa's body itched with the desire to ask more questions, but her logical side told her that there was no way anyone could answer them, even a handsome police officer who had welcomed them into his protection.

And that was the end of the first night. The town had gone mad, but they couldn't leave the city limits and now they couldn't even leave the police station. Among other things Alyssa felt outraged. Not towards the police officers. Indeed, Alyssa had always had a innate respect for the police, even thought she knew some of her past journalistic techniques could land her in jail. Alyssa was outraged that this situation could escalate so wildly before anyone could be warned and now they couldn't even leave. She promised herself in that moment that she would find out what was happening and make sure her story was heard when she escaped.

Marvin had a younger officer escort the group to one of the available spaces in the station. Alyssa and the other survivors were led through corridors the public rarely saw, and each room they walked through was just as impressive as the main lobby. Like a museum, each room seemed to follow into the next indefinitely. They were taken through a long, white-tiled hallway, which despite the glaring overhead lights still managed to half-conceal bizarre objects in dark corners. Alyssa could only gape at the art installations they walked past: Roman statues, antique globes and classical paintings, all which gave each room the look of an English lord's manor, rather than a small town's police precinct. Alyssa promised herself she would take photographs tomorrow, as the officer escorting them through the building was walking very quickly and would probably not stop so she could snap photos for her investigation.

They were finally led up a staircase and along a narrow corridor to their resting place for the night. They seemed to be at a crossroads in the building; there were several doors leading off the main corridor, which twisted to the left and led to another part of the station. The officer opened a door and led them into a small office, a room which was not as remarkable as the previous Alyssa had seen. It looked like a typical cop show set: desks were strewn around the room with mountainous stacks of papers on top and computers humming away. A large whiteboard at the far end of the room had photographs taped to it with almost illegible notes labelling parts of each image. Alyssa looked around, half hoping the office led onto a hotel suite.

"We're all out of proper bedding," the officer said. Alyssa detected a strong Maine accent.

"We're receiving more survivors all the time, so we've had to be a little creative and use what we have."

The officer approached a large double-doored locker and opened it. He grabbed clothes from a rail inside and dropped them at his feet. When he was finished he gathered them all up and put them down at the group's feet.

"Sorry," he said simply.

* * *

10:30PM

Lying on her bed of police uniforms, Alyssa's mind was whirring. The room was very quiet, and she felt almost totally secure, which she knew was quite strange. The words of the officer they had met outside Jack's Bar earlier rang around her head,

"_I couldn't even guarantee your safety in the precinct right now_."

But the high position of the office they were in, being without windows or any direct access to the outside, made Alyssa feel safe. Occasionally she heard the faintest sound of footsteps outside, and she imagined the officers fighting against fatigue to stay up all night and man the effort to keep the monsters outside the precinct's walls. The thought of all that work going on around her as she lay warmly in all her clothes under three police jackets was actually quite cosy. Alyssa soon found herself thinking of her investigation and the article she would write at the end of it. An almost mechanical process began, the mental puzzle pieces moving around before falling into place one by one. Alyssa felt the walls of exhaustion close in on her and she was soon fast asleep.

Alyssa woke with a start and let out an audible yelp. She instantly felt stupid and hoped she hadn't woken up any of her fellow survivors. She then wondered what had woken her up. Alyssa was sure her sleep had been dreamless, and she still felt completely drained of energy, as if she had been out for five minutes. She then heard a distinct rustling sound, followed by a long, low groan. The sound was familiar, and she shot up out of the bed in an instant. The room was completely dark, and as she looked left and right Alyssa could not even make out a crack of light to mark the doorway. The groan sounded again, and Yoko's voice followed.

"Mark?"

She sounded as terrified as Alyssa felt.

"_Oh…my God…"_

Alyssa was almost crying as she stumbled forwards, not knowing what she was walking towards. She crashed onto her front as she tripped over something, possibly someone's sleeping body.

"Hey!" he said. It wasn't Mark or George.

The groan filled the room again. It came from Alyssa's left, not two yards away. She scrambled on her hands and knees away from it, her movements building up into a frenzy. She let out a cry as her head hit a table leg. The room was full of obstacles and she could only climb over or move around them in the dark. Alyssa reached a wall and pressed herself against it. She hadn't moved far, and the rustling sound was fast now.

"What is that noise?" George said.

His voice was followed by a howl unlike any Alyssa had heard before. One of the men was screaming, practically wailing. Alyssa stood up, knocking her head again on the handle of a drawer. As the screaming continued, she edged along the length of the wall as quickly as she could, and then a bright light filled the room.

The silhouette of an officer filled the door frame. The light from the hall hurt Alyssa's eyes, and then they almost burned out of their sockets when the main light came on, but she forced herself to open them and look back. Mark was eating one of them. He had his mouth clamped firmly on his victim's leg, and Alyssa saw it was the man who had been praying in the van. He was hitting Mark with his fists, although they were sitting in a growing pool of blood, and the victim's movements were already weakening. From behind her, the officer fired six shots, and the sound thundered around the room. Within five seconds, the shots had finished and Mark and his victim were dead. Her eyes still stinging, Alyssa turned back to the officer standing there. It was a female cop, a small-framed woman with short blonde hair and an expression which was almost as shocked as the others in the room. Cindy, who had been sleeping in between Mark and George, was sitting on the floor, covered from head to toe in blood. She was completely frozen in shock.

"Are ya'all alright?" the officer asked.

* * *

Friday 25th September – 7:30AM

Alyssa was sitting in a small office cubicle, the morning light hitting her face as she sipped her coffee. In front of her was sat the officer who had shot and killed Mark and the other man – no one knew his name. Finishing her coffee, she placed it on the table as the officer finished reading through the notes on the computer in front of her and looked up.  
"Okay. So if you could start with where you were and what you were doing when the outbreak started, I'll make notes and then get you to check them at the end. Is that alright, ma'am?"

Alyssa ran her hand through her hair and nodded. She had barely slept and still needed to catch up on sleep from two days ago.

She told her story, from her entrance in the bar and the break-in, to the race to the roof, the descent to the street and the group's attempt to escape the city with the cop they had met. When she had finished, the officer, Rita, she said her name was, continued typing furiously, just about keeping up with Alyssa's thorough and swift retelling of the previous night. When she was finished, she let out a breath and then looked back to Alyssa.

"Thank you, ma'am. Like I said, we're interviewing everyone who comes in here so we can try and piece together what's happening. We figure that will give us a better chance of figuring out how to escape."

Alyssa winced. The thought of ever stepping outside of the police station again with those monsters still out there was a very unpleasant thought. Rita's words the night before flashed through her mind again.

"_I had to kill them both. Once you're bitten, that's it. It wouldn't have been long before he would have turned and tried to kill you all, too._"

* * *

Saturday 26th September, 6:45PM

The sun was setting when Alyssa started exercising. She was in the precinct's training room, a space which held a decent array of workout equipment for the officers to make use of. Rita had loaned her a tracksuit, which was a little too small, but Alyssa did not care given the circumstances. She was pounding a kick bag with her legs and fists, and just as she was roundhousing the bag like an approaching zombie, the door opened behind her. Alyssa whirled around and almost screamed. She was still on edge almost constantly, and had barely slept again the night before, having refused to go back to the office where Mark had died and instead sleeping on the cold floor in one of the witness interrogation rooms.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

Alyssa furrowed her brow. She knew she recognised the man from somewhere.

"You weren't at Jack's Bar the other night, were you?" she asked.

"The night of the outbreak? Yeah, I was."

Alyssa had seen Kevin Ryman a few times before at Jack's. He was definitely her type: he was tall, with a strong build, a boyishly handsome face and long, nicely-styled hair. But picking guys up at bars wasn't really her style, and she hadn't made the effort to speak to him before.

"Sorry, I didn't think anyone would be in here. I'll come back later."

As Kevin turned around, Alyssa hesitated for a second and then shouted,

"Hey, don't mind me. I always appreciate a gym buddy."

So Alyssa and Kevin spent the next couple of hours giving each other tips on the kick bag, racing each other to do 100 push-ups and chatting about their jobs. It was completely dark when they both admitted they were exhausted and began to head to their respective shower rooms.

"What are you gonna do for the rest of the night?" Alyssa asked.

"I'll be busy as ever. I'm on guard duty in the holding cells tonight. At least I can read a book while I'm doing that."

Alyssa stopped in her tracks.

"The holding cells! Is there a man down there, a journalist called Ben?"

Kevin stopped and turned around.

"Yeah, Ben Bertolucci. He's been here since the night before the outbreak."

"I know him!" Alyssa said.

"Really? We caught him for trespassing and the Chief said to forget the charge given the circumstances, but he said he doesn't want to leave his cell."

"Can you take me to him?" Alyssa asked.

Kevin opened the door to the holding cells and stepped inside, Alyssa following him in. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain blue T shirt, again borrowed from Rita. The holding room was a short corridor with just two cells, one containing a pair of men dressed in blue prison uniforms, and the other containing a man with a white shirt, tie and brown trousers.

"What's going on outside? Sounds like a riot!" one of the other men said. Kevin told him to shut up and then smiled at Alyssa.

"If you need me I'll be just outside."

Then he left and closed the door behind him. Alyssa approached Ben's cell.

"Hey, I know you," he said.

Of course he knew her. They had worked for the same paper for years now and there had been competition between them for the past few months to get front-page stories on the murders over the summer.

"Ben, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Tony told me you were here a couple of days ago and I completely forgot."

Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Tony's missed me, huh? Jeez, he's gonna kick my ass for that missed deadline."

Alyssa's face sank.  
"Ben, you haven't been outside at all, have you? Tony's probably dead."

Ben's smile dropped and he thought for a second before speaking.

"You're right. He's probably eating the rest of his staff as we speak, ha ha."

Alyssa almost growled.

"This isn't funny, Ben. The city's in turmoil, and there are probably more zombies out there than people."

Despite Alyssa's reprimand, Ben laughed again.

"Zombies! Is that what it is? They don't tell us much down here, although I have managed to bribe a few clues from the Chief."

Alyssa's expression turned from angered to shocked.

"Bribing the Chief! You're as bad as they say you are, Mr Bertolucci."

Ben smiled wickedly and then spoke seriously.

"Look, Alyssa. I know it's bad out there, but we have a professional obligation to let people know what's happened here. I think we should work together."

It was Alyssa's turn to laugh.

"Ben, don't kid yourself! We've been rivals on the murders story for months."

"Yes, and now that the story's come to a head, we need to investigate so we have a conclusion, right?"

Alyssa looked Ben dead in the eyes.

"So you want to team up and write the story together?"  
"Well, yes. The Chief's given me some pretty shocking little bits of information which most of his staff probably don't even know. But I'm not leaving this cell until the cops have a way to get us out."

"Stubborn as ever. So you want me to do all the work?"  
Ben smiled again.

"Ask around, see what you can dig up. And please tell me you have your camera with you?"  
Alyssa nodded. "Of course," she said.

"Good, great. So take some photos, try and squeeze some info out of the cops, and we'll compare notes in a few days. Whatta ya say?"  
Alyssa shrugged.  
"Sounds good," she said.


	6. Desperate Times

11:00PM

Yoko entered the witness interrogation room Alyssa had thus far had to herself. She opened the door slowly, peeking her head around the corner and then gasping when she saw Alyssa's state of undress.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Yoko stepped back outside and Alyssa, almost as shocked and holding her hands across her breasts, eventually called out, "Wait! What is it?"

Alyssa flung herself inside the police jacket on the floor as Yoko very slowly poked her head back around the door.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I was going to ask if I could sleep here tonight. That room…I can't stand it."

Alyssa smiled, zipping up the jacket.

"No problem. I'd feel safer with someone here anyway."

"Oh, are you sure?"

"Just get in here."

Yoko entered the room and closed the door. She hesitated for a minute before grabbing a chair and propping it against the door handle.

"Is that okay?" Yoko asked.

"I was gonna do the same," Alyssa replied.

* * *

4:10AM

George and Cindy, alone in the vast darkness of the office upstairs, lay side by side in their separate 'beds'. Time had lost meaning since they had entered the precinct, and the lack of windows in the office added to the bizarre lack of day or night the pair had experienced when falling asleep and waking up each day. They didn't know it, but they had been talking for almost four hours.

"I just can't believe I'm never going back there," Cindy said. "I worked at the bar for years and I was so used to it, you know? I thought I was finally gonna be close to comfortable for a while."

George didn't reply, and Cindy wondered if she had been talking to herself for the past few minutes.

"George, are you awake?"  
"Yes, sorry. I was thinking, too…When we get out, if we get out, what will we do? Will we ever be able to carry on as before? What will the world be like after this?"

Cindy didn't know how to respond.

* * *

Monday 29th September – 2:00AM

George sat down on a chair in front of the desk and picked up the telephone. He was in the precinct's east office, a vast room with a lot of desks pushed together and paperwork and computers everywhere. It was the middle of the night, and he didn't know how much time he had.

"_The Chief has ordered that this situation remain internal until we know what we're dealing with. There is to be no contact with the outside for the time being_."

Officer Branagh had been explicit about the rules on using the telephone.

George had asked to use the phone at least twice a day, asking different officers in the hope that one of them would say yes. But they hadn't. So George had spent his time exploring the building, hoping to find an unguarded telephone somewhere. Earlier that day he had overheard someone using the phone in this office, and had decided to try coming back in the night to see if anyone was around. He had lucked out tonight.

There was only one person he was concerned about, the one person he had known the entire time he had lived in Raccoon City: his ex-wife. She had moved out after the divorce, saying he could keep the house for now and that she was going to live with her sister Uptown until she figured out what she wanted to do. George entered his PIN number and waited to be connected to his machine.

"You have one new message."

George's heart did a cartwheel.

"_Oh God, let it be you. Be okay, be okay…_"

"George, this is Peter Jenkins. I have vital information about the current city crisis, which you will only understand. I'm waiting at the university. Please contact me as soon as possible."

"_To replay the message, please press one. For more options…_"

George hung up the phone, his hand shaking. No news from the ex-wife. Was no news good news? He was more curious about her wellbeing than he was about Peter's message, but there was no way for him to investigate either situation while he was stuck here. He didn't know Peter's number by heart, so he would have to go and see him at the university. He wondered when he could do so.

* * *

6:30PM

With a loud groan, Alyssa pulled her body up onto the top of the wall, surprised at how much body strength it took to haul herself onto it. Her feet left the stack of boxes she had placed and as her head appeared over the top of the wall, she almost let go and fell back down again. The crowd of zombies surrounding the station was immense. When she had last seen this street, it had been practically empty, and now there were swarms of them, some ambling up the street, others staring mindlessly at the wall in front of them. Alyssa forced herself not to shriek. As far as she knew they weren't aware there was anyone inside the station.

None of the zombies thought to look up, so perched as she was, she was perfectly positioned to take the photographs she wanted. She had had to wait until the sun began to set, when the officers patrolling the courtyard made their way inside for the night. Of course, the main door to the precinct was closed and locked, but she had managed to find a way outside through the underground parking garage. Alyssa slowly took the camera from her pocket, all too aware that one slip would send her crashing down on the wrong side of the wall and to be devoured alive. But she had taken Ben's request dead seriously, and had spent the past few days trying to find notes, photographs – anything that would give some indication as to what exactly the police knew about the outbreak. But most of the offices were either locked or guarded, so she decided that most of the evidence would have to come straight from her. Frightened of even making noise with the shutter button, Alyssa carefully lined up her first shot and began taking photos of the horde.

* * *

Wednesday 30th September – 4:00AM

It was almost a week since the outbreak had started, and, unknown to the few survivors in the precinct who were still alive, the number of officers still left in the station had dwindled to exactly four. Alyssa and her fellow survivors were only still alive because they had been lucky enough to choose resting places which didn't coincide with Chief Irons' hunting grounds. Every night, they heard gunshots ring through the halls of the station, but had actually grown accustomed to survivors being executed when they were found to be infected, and didn't realise the Chief was actually hunting down his own officers with a rifle before retiring to his office for the night. When Kevin had discovered this, he had decided to jump over the wall at the back of the station and take his chances outside.

So Marvin had gathered three other cops in his office, including Rita, and told them his escape plan.

"Take a look at this. It's a map of this place back when it was an art museum. There _should_ be a ventilation tunnel underground which leads to the street."

"And that'll get us outta here?" Rita's southern accent never failed to comfort Marvin in a strange maternal sort of way.

"It should. But it's so narrow you might be the only one who can fit through."

"So I'll get help and come back, right? Looks like it's a race against time," Rita said.

"Now that we've lost communications there's nothing else we can do," Marvin said. "Alright everyone, we've got to hurry up and find a way into that tunnel. It's gonna be our way out of here."

The map indicated that the tunnel was located in the substation room, in the basement. As Rita hurried with the other two officers to find it, Marvin began his tour of the station to round up the remaining survivors. He had made each person register their 'bedrooms' with him, so he knew where to find them if they had to leave quickly. Marvin opened the first door, which was Alyssa and Yoko's, and flicked the light on. They both raised their heads and looked at him.

"Rise and shine, ladies. We're busting out of here."

Ten minutes later, Alyssa, Yoko, George and Cindy assembled in front of the statue in the main lobby, as they had six days earlier. They stood together, groggy eyed, in the oversized police clothes they had borrowed, and waited with Marvin for Rita to come back. Marvin explained the plan to the group, and they began to whisper to each other nervously.

"We can't stay here forever," Marvin said. "The walls won't hold another week, and we're running out of supplies."

The group fell silent again.

Another ten minutes passed, and Rita burst through the door from the east corridor, the other two officers following.

"We found it," she said excitedly.

"Can you get in?" Marvin asked.

"Just about," she said. "You said the shaft leads to an opening on the street outside?"  
"Yes," Marvin said.

A silence passed between them – there was no need to communicate the biggest flaw in the plan: what would she do if the opening was surrounded by zombies?

"If you can just get to the street behind, you can get in the van and bring it around to the front. Then we'll all get in and leave," Marvin said.

Earlier that day, Marvin and Rita had made a trip to the roof, which they hadn't done since the first day when an officer was bitten ferociously by a flock of crows so badly he had died an hour later. Silently, they had made their way across the rooftop to check the surrounding streets. At the back of the building, a police van was still parked against the station wall.

"Use this to keep in touch with me," Marvin said, handing Rita a radio.

"It doesn't have much range, but the signal should get through if I'm close by," he said.

"Leave it to me," Rita said. "I promise I'll be back with help."

With that, she turned around and headed back into the east corridor, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Cole, you get the prisoners from the holding cells and bring them here," Marvin said, turning to one of the other officers. He nodded and went through the door behind Rita.

"Lopez, you stay with the group here. I'm going to make sure no one else is still around."

Lopez smiled at the group nervously. Alyssa let out a long breath. This was it, they were finally going to leave. She wondered if Marvin's plan would work. She didn't know where the van was, or how Rita was supposed to get around the zombies, but the plan sounded more than a little optimistic. George obviously shared these doubts, and he voiced them,

"I'm really not sure about this," he said.

Lopez didn't know what to say. Cindy simply replied, "It's in the hands of God now."  
Alyssa didn't believe it was in the hands of God, but hoped more than anything that Rita was successful.

A painful fifteen minutes passed. Marvin returned, and when Lopez looked at him enquiringly he simply shook his head.

"Where is Cole?" Marvin asked.

"I don't know," Lopez replied. "They haven't come back."

Marvin looked worried.

"We'll wait ten minutes and then I'll go and find him."

Five minutes later, Marvin's radio beeped.

"Marvin? Marvin!" Rita's voice was slightly distorted.

"Hey! You made it!" he shouted, springing up from his seat.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I'm headed your way now. I'll pull the truck up to the front gate, so get everyone together there. I won't be able to keep that position long so hurry up, okay? I'll contact you again in a second."

"Alright, be careful," Marvin said.

In a last minute attempt to get any remaining survivors to the lobby with them, Marvin went to the front desk and sent a message through the PA system.

"Listen up, everyone. Help's on the way, get to the front lobby!"

Marvin's stomach actually hurt from the sense of dread he had about what they were about to do. He stepped back down to where the other survivors were and said, "Okay, you guys go with Officer Lopez to the front gate. When Rita comes with the truck, you open it and jump inside."

"Where are you going?" Alyssa asked.

"I'm gonna go see what Officer Cole is up to. If I'm not back in time, you'll have to leave without me."

"But Marvin…" Lopez started.

"Don't argue. I'll be back in a second, anyway."

With that, Marvin made his way to the east corridor.

Lopez turned to the rest of the group and said, "Let's go, then."

He led them to the front door, unlocked it and stepped into the courtyard. The outside of the front gate was teeming with zombies, who were now aware of the humans' presence in the precinct and were very eager to get inside. The sight made Alyssa feel sick, and she was about to reach her hand out to cover Yoko's eyes, but it was too late.

"Oh no!" Yoko screamed.

"Shh!" Lopez turned around and looked at Yoko severely. "We can't draw attention to ourselves," he said.

Alyssa wanted to ask how exactly they could make it any more obvious that they were there, but she resisted. The group took a seat on the steps leading up to the front door, and they waited.

The night was still, and the only sound, which seemed to come from every side of the outer wall, was that of the zombies groaning. Alyssa wondered how many were out there. A hundred, two hundred? It was impossible to guess. In tense situations she had no control over, Alyssa had a habit of forcing herself to focus on some mundane object around her, to avoid going mad as she waited. Tonight it was the tips of her shoes, which were the only articles of clothing she had kept since entering the station last week. She stared at them for a good five minutes, ignoring the gesticulating zombies in front of her, before the van came crashing towards the front gate.

In the end, they didn't have to open the gate, because Rita smashed through it herself with the van. It screeched to a halt just inside the courtyard, and Lopez ran for the door as the zombies rushed through on either side of the gate. If the van had been slightly wider, or the gate slightly narrower, the zombies would never have been able to enter the courtyard before the group got in the van. But as it was, the zombies streamed in immediately, and they went for Officer Lopez as he yanked the van's back doors open. Two of them thrust themselves on him. They were obviously starving – Alyssa had not yet seen them so frenzied. It took every effort she had not to turn around screaming and run back inside the station. But what would she do then? Run around the building as the zombies filed in one by one? She wouldn't last an hour. Luckily the other three had the same thought, and all four jolted towards the open doors as fast as they could.

Not one was uninjured. Alyssa was first, and as she reached the van a zombie not occupied with finishing off Lopez bit into her left arm. She let out the loudest scream that had ever escaped her throat, pushed it off, and threw herself inside. This fight had stopped the other three from getting inside the van, and more zombies were entering the courtyard all the time. Cindy and George, who had been holding hands, were forced to barge into the approaching zombies as Alyssa fought in front of the van. Cindy received scratches up and down both her arms, and George managed to get away with a single swipe to the face. It was Yoko, behind the other three, who was hit worst. Before she could even swing her arm out to stop him, a large male zombie threw himself on her, knocking her back onto the floor and biting at her neck. George had enough time to kick it very hard in the face, which made it groan in a voice Yoko thought almost sounded sad. George helped her up and they ran to the van, climbing in behind Cindy. Not a minute had passed, and the four battered survivors had finally made their way into the van. Alyssa closed the door behind Yoko and flopped to the floor.

"Is everyone there? What about Marvin?" Rita asked behind the gated divide between the back of the van and the front cab.

"Go!" George shouted.

Rita screamed.

A zombie hit at the window next to her head. She recoiled just before a gunshot rang out in the night and blew the zombie's head apart. Rita rolled the window down, pushed her head out and looked back. Marvin was standing in the station's doorway, and he fired a few shots at the zombies approaching him.

"Marvin!" Rita shouted.

"Don't worry about me, just get going!"

"No way! I'm not leaving you behind!"

Another zombie swiped its arm upwards and almost hit Rita. She pulled her head back into the cab. A group of zombies was pushing against the front of the van, and others began banging against the sides of the vehicle. With a shout, Rita hit the accelerator, knocking five zombies over as she sped out into the street.


	7. Decisions, Decisions

Rita charged up the street in the police van, refusing to turn around or think about what she was leaving behind. Using all her mental strength, she focused on avoiding the staggering corpses in the road and continued westwards towards the edge of the city. Raccoon had completely transformed since she had last seen it. The cars that had once travelled up and down the main road to take its citizens to work and school were now left abandoned, some having crashed into buildings or even lying overturned on the sidewalk. The only light emanating from the houses and businesses flanking the street was that of fires which had been left to burn for days. As she neared the end of the road, the number of zombies standing in the street grew fewer and fewer, most heading towards the centre of the city, from where they could still sense life and noise.

Rita brought the van to a stop just inside a large gated park – the Raccoon City Botanical Garden. Ignition keys in hand, she looked left and right, hopped out of the cab and ran around to the back. Rita opened the door and climbed inside, closing it behind her.

"Where are we?" George asked wearily.

Rita looked from person to person, giving each of them a quick inspection. George was still bleeding from a single, deep cut to his cheek. The cuts on Cindy's arms were shallow but very long, and Alyssa had no visible wounds but was cradling her left arm. Yoko was holding her hands to her neck, too frightened to let go in case she bled out.

"Let me see," Rita said, moving towards Yoko and crouching beside her on the floor.

Reluctantly, Yoko removed her hands and revealed the bite on her neck. It was not serious, just a flesh wound, and the pressure from her hand had almost completely stopped the bleeding already.

"Looks like you guys got lucky," Rita said.

"Lucky?" Alyssa replied. "We're all infected now, aren't we?"

Rita bit her lip. It was true; she had told them herself after killing Mark and his victim, "_Once you're bitten, that's it_."

"I don't know what to say," Rita said.

Alyssa let her head flop down into her folded arms. They were out of hell, but all it took was one bite to sentence her to death.

"That may not be true," George said.

Everyone looked at him. Cindy asked, "What do you mean?"  
"Peter Jenkins," George said.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Alyssa asked almost mournfully.

"He's a friend of mine at the university. He left a message on my answer phone a few days ago to tell me he had information on the crisis only I would understand. I think I know what he was talking about."  
Everyone continued to stare at George expectantly. A crow called out from somewhere in the park and Yoko shivered.

"Over the past few months he told me he was working on a huge project for Umbrella. They hired him to do research at the university for some anti-viral drug they were developing."

Alyssa furrowed her brow.

"What are you saying, Umbrella is connected to the outbreak?" she asked.

George looked at Alyssa intensely.

"Don't tell me the thought hasn't crossed your mind," he said.

Another moment passed in silence. Rita shook her head and said, "What do you want to do about it?"  
"Peter told me to meet him at the university. Maybe he had a breakthrough on his experiment. Maybe he found a cure for the virus Umbrella developed," George said.

"That sounds like a hell of a long shot," Alyssa said.

George looked at her again with hard eyes.

"So what else would you like to do?"

Alyssa wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and exhaled deeply.

"I don't know what to think anymore. Rita, could you get us to the university?"  
"Raccoon U is a few miles away, but it's pretty much just a straight drive up Ennerdale and then a mile or so north."

Alyssa shook her head again.

"Your friend might already be dead, or worse," she said.

"I really think it's worth a shot," Yoko said.

Everyone turned around and looked at her.

"I'm a student at the university. I might be able to help you find him."

"I went to school there, too," Alyssa added.

George smiled. He was feeling increasingly confident that the plan would work.

"We've got nothing to lose," he said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll come with you," Rita said, her tone very serious now.

"Will you at least take us there?" George asked.

"I will," she said. "I owe it to you for failing you back at the station."

"You didn't fail," Cindy said with a smile. "You got us out alive, which is incredible."  
Alyssa wasn't quite so forgiving. She considered Rita a tough individual but couldn't help feeling she might have handled their escape a little more intelligently.

"Right, time's wasting," Rita said, standing up again. "Let's see if I can get you to the university."  
As Rita opened the doors again, Alyssa asked, "What will you do?"  
"I'm gonna make a break for the border," she replied. "I don't imagine they're still stopping folks from leaving at this point."

Back in the cab, Rita started up the van and reversed out of the park. She decided that passing the front of the station again was a bad idea, and instead made a left up Ema Street, which led up to a road parallel to Ennerdale. Passing the familiar Kendo Gun Shop, Rita drove the van along the back wall of the precinct, which was still busy with undead foot traffic but easy enough to get past in the truck. Rita looked up as the van passed under the shadow of a huge statue of Mayor Warren, a man she had admired for his work on modernising Raccoon City since he was elected eleven years ago. She had actually seen his daughter enter the precinct a few days ago, but the Chief had taken her straight to his office on her arrival and no one had seen her since. That thought made Rita shudder.

The van finally reached the beginning of Good Street, on which Raccoon University stood proudly behind a grand front gate bearing its name. It was still pitch dark, and Rita could not see much up or down the road. It was lucky the university wasn't downtown, she thought, or they wouldn't even get through the gate alive. Reaching the gate, she hopped out of the cab once again, ran to the back, and opened the door. She motioned for the group to stay silent and they jumped down onto the street one by one. Rita led the group around to the other side of the van and Alyssa looked up as the university came into view.

"I can't see anyone around. Will you be alright from here?" Rita asked, almost whispering.

"We'll be fine," George said, not looking away from the front gate.

"Alright. Once again, I'm really sorry I landed you in this mess. I wish I…"  
Rita was interrupted as Cindy flung her arms around her impulsively. Rita let her arms fold around Cindy, and they both shared a silent moment that communicated everything that needed to be said.

"Good luck," Cindy said, pulling away.

Rita nodded, and was about to turn around when she suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, that's right! I got you this."

Rita reached around to her back pocket and removed a 9mm pistol, handing it to Cindy.

"I wish I had more but I've only got one other spare in the van."

Not knowing what else to say, Cindy simply said, "Thank you."

With an unsure smile, Rita climbed back into the front of the van, started it up and continued up the street into the darkness. Cindy passed the gun to George and said, "You'd better take this."

George stepped through the already open front gate and into the university's front courtyard, enclosed by the arms of each wing of the U-shaped building. Eager to be indoors again, George quickly approached the entrance – large, wooden double doors with misted glass through which the blurry white glow of the hall light was shining. Opening the doors, the group stepped into the university's main hall, Alyssa quickly closing them behind her. As a former student, the room was instantly recognisable, and had remained unchanged in the six years that had passed since she'd been there. Even more cavernous than the RPD's main lobby, the main hall was lit by ornate wall sconces, mysteriously still lit despite the city's lack of power. The panelled walls were left bare except for an enormous portrait at the back of the room bearing the face of the university's founding president. No one in the group had ever been to the Spencer Mansion, but they would have been astounded at the similarities of its main hall to this one.

"Peter's office is at the back of this room," George said, looking around to make sure everyone was present. He shuddered as a gust of wind howled in the trees of the courtyard outside, and quickly made his way around the staircase in the middle of the room to the entrance of Peter's office. Behind the double staircase, the door to the office was in plain sight, but most of the hundreds of students and professors who passed through the hall every day had never had any reason to walk past it and it remained all but hidden to those who didn't know it was there. George tried the handle and the door swung open. A narrow, arched tunnel led down to the cave-like basement. Gun in hand, George quietly made his way down the stairs, signalling for the others to wait at the top. At the bottom, the generously sized rectangular office was dimly lit by lamps on the desks flanking the walls. At the far end of the room, a man in a white lab coat was sat at the desk with his back to the stairs, his face down on the table. George approached the man, pointing his gun, and bent down next to him to look at his face.

Peter was dead. His face had gone from its usual pallid tone to a very unhealthy green-grey, his eyes open and staring behind oversized glasses. His mouth was also open, and his right arm was stretched across the desk, the hand lying on sheets of paper. George knew it was useless to even check for a pulse, but he also knew that that wouldn't exactly stop Peter from getting up again. Very slowly, George reached for the papers, his eyes and gun trained on Peter's face, and he slid them out from under his hand, which flopped lifelessly back onto the desk. Relieved, George exhaled heavily and then jumped as a voice called from above.

"George, are you okay down there?"

George glanced over the files quickly and shouted, "Cindy, everyone, get down here."

The three women made their way down the stairs and looked around. Yoko gasped when she saw Peter's body.

"Is he…gone?" she asked.

"Yes," George said.

"But is he…completely gone?" she asked again.

"He isn't moving," George said.

And then, realising it was in the interest of everyone's safety, and that the body sitting next to him was no longer the friend he'd gone to medical school with, George turned around and shot Peter in the head.

Two minutes later, everyone in the room had had a turn reading the document Peter had been writing.

"_Reagent generation_

_Components_

_-P-base_

_-V-poison_

_-T-blood_

_1)P-base (2500ml) – blue, aqueous solution_

_Since storage device in the lab is out of order, sample is being stored in underground tank (water works management office). Keep sample in air-tight case or it will dissolve._

_2) V-poison (1000ml) – yellow liquid_

_Generated from V-poison as a culture catalyst. An artificial hive has been set up in the tower. Gathering usable amounts of V-poison is dangerous and labor intensive – handle it with care._

_3) T-blood (5CCs)_

_Blood from an organism infected with the "T" virus.*_

_*A sample from Greg should be arriving soon._"

The second page was a hand-written note.

"_George_

_We call it "Daylight" – the cure to the T-virus. We finally perfected it, and I might be able to save myself if that bastard Greg doesn't stop me. There's a reagent incubator in the lab upstairs. Collect the 3 key ingredients, then set them in the incubator._

_If I'm not here, you'll need to hurry and create a reagent yourself._

_Then get the hell out of Raccoon._

_I hope to see you soon._

_Peter._"

George stared at the pages incredulously. He almost smiled but was still shaking from the discovery of Peter's body.

"So this is it, the cure to…what did he call it, the "T" virus?" Yoko said.

"Yes, it looks like this is it. We're saved," George replied.

"Yes, all we have to do is find these three things in the next, what, hour, before we turn into zombies," Alyssa said sarcastically.

At some point during their stay in the RPD, everyone had accepted that the threat they were dealing with was indeed a zombie outbreak, impossible as it seemed.

"Damn it, Alyssa," George snapped, unable to control himself. "When are you ever satisfied?"

Alyssa stared at George and then stifled a laugh. She wasn't used to being talked to like that.

"I'm sorry," George said, wiping his brow. "Me and Peter go back a while. I wonder why he didn't manage to make the cure himself. I can't believe Greg would have stopped him."  
"Who's Greg?" Cindy asked.

"He's another research professor here. They were working on the Umbrella project together. But they were friends, I don't understand what Peter was saying there," George said.

No one knew what to say. After a second George looked at the sheet again and started thinking.

"If we split up into two groups, we can find the ingredients faster. One group should go for the V-poison in the tower and the other for the P-base in the basement," he said.

"What about the T-blood?" Alyssa asked.

"Well, we've got plenty of that between us," George replied.

Alyssa opened her mouth in shock. She hadn't even considered that they already had one of the ingredients inside them.

"So, who goes where?" Alyssa asked.

"Well, I've lectured here a couple times, but Yoko probably knows this place better than any of us. The rooms have probably changed a bit since you were here, Alyssa," George said. "The tower is obvious, but do you know where that office is, Yoko?"

"I…my major is computer science. But there's a map on each floor, so it should be marked on there," she replied.

"Right. Alyssa, perhaps you should go with Yoko. I assume you can handle a gun," George said.

Alyssa nodded. George moved back to Peter's desk and opened the middle drawer. He knew Peter well – under a diary was hidden a magnum revolver wrapped in a cloth. George picked it up and then walked back to the group, handing it to Alyssa. She whistled, holding it up to the wall light to get a good look at it.

"Nice gun," she said.

"That leaves me and Cindy to get the V-poison. Remember, you're looking for a blue liquid in some kind of airtight container."  
Alyssa nodded, eager to begin the search.

"When we find what we're looking for, we make our way to the labs on the second floor. I assume you can find those, Yoko?" George said.

She nodded.

"Then let's go," he said.

The group headed back up the stairs to the main hall, which was still empty and silent. For a moment, everyone stood still, waiting for someone to take direction. "The elevator to the basement is over there," George pointed out, pointing to the southwest corner of the room. Alyssa nodded and made her way with the other three towards the door. Inside, Alyssa saw a long locker room with an elevator at the end and a single computer buzzing away on a desk in front of her.

"How does this building still have power?" Alyssa said to no one in particular.

"I don't know," George said. "Maybe it's running on an emergency generator."

Alyssa reached the elevator and pressed the call button. Next to it was a long plaque with a basic map of the layout of each floor, with a more detailed map of the first floor next to it. Alyssa stared at it.

"You should be able to reach the tower through this tunnel," she said, pointing at the schematic of the lowest basement level.

"That's a big tunnel," George said. "What is it?"  
Yoko shrugged, then looked closely at the map and said, "Oh right, the old subway runs under here."

George looked at the map thoughtfully.

"There are a lot of narrow tunnels on this level," Alyssa said, pointing at the second basement level. "Could that be the waterworks?"

Yoko shrugged again.

"Let's go see," she said.

The elevator arrived and Alyssa stepped inside, followed by the other three. When they were all in, she pressed the buttons for the second and fourth basement levels, and the elevator made its descent.

The doors opened onto a narrow, dirty corridor that was so different to the part of the university they had just left it looked like another building. Alyssa stepped out, followed by Yoko. They turned around before the doors closed again and Alyssa said, "Good luck."

Cindy and George nodded and the elevator made its way to the bottom floor. Suddenly surrounded by silence again, Alyssa looked at Yoko and smiled, then looked at the map for the floor they were on.

"_B2F – Underground lab, Water works, Emergency power generator," _it read. Alyssa traced her fingers along the map as it wound through similar looking corridors.

"_Passage A, Passage B, East passage..._"

"Water works management office," Alyssa said. "Looks like a simple enough trip."

Alyssa saw that the office led onto a vast room labelled "Water works", which then led onto the underground lab room.

Alyssa turned around and stared up the corridor. Apart from a large metal cart containing building materials, the corridor was empty. Gun in hand, Alyssa led the way to the end of the hall. Despite having no idea what lay behind the next door, she found that she was strangely unafraid. Alyssa was nothing if not pragmatic, and had basically accepted that she was going to die as soon as she was in the police van and had time to process what had happened outside the precinct.

"_We were going to die anyway. If we find this thing then I guess that's just one hell of a bonus,_" she thought.

Opening the next door, Alyssa was presented with a similar passage. She could now hear the sound of rushing water, which seemed to come from the walls surrounding her. A loud dripping sound echoed up the corridor from a leaking pipe on the ceiling. Alyssa shivered. She had never suffered from claustrophobia but was never a big fan of the water, and the thought of being surrounded by it when it was contained in such an old, worn structure was not a comforting thought. The corridor reached a T-section leading left and forwards, and Alyssa swung around the left corner, pointing the gun ahead of her.

"_Nothing, just another door,_"

"Where now?" Yoko asked.

"Through here," Alyssa said.

The next room was a storage area, with long shelves lining the walls and more construction equipment littered around the floor. Alyssa approached the shelves and scanned them for anything useful. They were mostly filled with paint pots and industrial cleaning products. Resting against the wall near the far door were large wooden planks, but they were all far too big to be carried and used as weapons. Alyssa approached the next door and opened it.

The water works management office was small and full of equipment. In the middle of the room was an enormous desk which took up half the room, with some heavy machinery resting on top. Alyssa's heart started pounding against her chest when she saw a whiteboard along the wall with a large blood stain splashed across it. Alyssa approached the machine on the desk and looked at it. It was a large console with a screen and two large buttons, one green and one red. The screen read, "_Extract P-base Y/N?"_ Alyssa smiled widely. She couldn't believe had found it without encountering any difficulty.

"_Perhaps all the monsters down here starved days ago,_" she thought.

Alyssa pressed the green button and the console beeped loudly.

"_Container damaged. Remove container Y/N?_" it said.

Alyssa pressed the green button again and a small panel opened, revealing a cylindrical glass container about six inches tall. Alyssa grabbed it and saw that the lid was cracked.

Alyssa looked around the room. The desk was just full of papers and office equipment.

"Where are the other containers kept?" Alyssa asked.

Yoko looked around.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe they're in the lab?"

Alyssa's face sank. So it wouldn't be that easy after all.

"Let's take a look, then," she said.

Alyssa led the way to the other door in the room and opened it. It swung open with a heavy metal sound, as if it had not been opened in a long time, and Alyssa was presented with the huge expanse of the water works room. High above, metal catwalks were suspended above a reservoir filled with dirty water which rippled and splashed against the ground where they stood. A narrow bridge which stood just above the level of the water stretched to the other side, where the glass-walled laboratory was. Alyssa looked around and stepped onto the bridge.

"Let's hurry," she said.

Alyssa's sneakers clanged against the bridge as she walked across, the sound resonating around the immense room. Alyssa had almost reached the other side when she heard a loud splash, a scream, and another splash. Alyssa whirled around and pointed her gun. Yoko was nowhere to be seen, and the room was silent again.

"Yoko?" Alyssa shouted, looking left and right. The ripples in the water were now coming from the middle of the room, and as Alyssa's gaze rolled up to the centre of the reservoir, she saw Yoko's head emerge from the water.

"Yoko! How did you get there?"

Yoko was treading water, half-choking as she spat the filthy water out of her mouth.

"Something hit me! There's something in here!" she screamed.

"Swim back here!" Alyssa shouted.

Yoko began kicking herself back to the bridge, and Alyssa almost dropped her gun in shock as she saw something else emerge from the water behind her.

It looked like a giant frog. There was no way she could have known, but she was looking at a gamma hunter, the result of one of Umbrella's experiments on the effects of the T-virus on amphibians. It was splashing stupidly in the water, apparently disorientated, and Alyssa could not make out any eyes or other features on its face except an oversized mouth, which it opened as it splashed left and right and made short, loud calls which reverberated around the room. Yoko thrashed forwards and was almost at the bridge when the creature stopped calling for a moment, listened, and then went back underwater.

"Hurry!" Alyssa cried.

She raised her gun and aimed it just behind Yoko, seeing the ripple the creature made as it made a beeline towards her. Alyssa aimed a shot carefully and fired, the sound of it almost deafening her. As Yoko finally reached the bridge and stretched her arms out to pull herself up, the creature emerged again, its mouth looking almost bigger than its head, and Alyssa fired again. The creature seemed to wail as it sank back under the water, dark liquid floating up in its place.

Alyssa reached down and helped Yoko up with one hand, the other still aiming the gun at the water in case the creature rose again.

"What the hell was that?" Yoko asked, standing up.

"I don't know. Are you okay?"  
"I think so. It hit me so quick I didn't know where I was. My arm hurts," Yoko replied.

"Let's get inside the lab," Alyssa said, ushering Yoko along the bridge as she gave a final look across the water.

Alyssa entered the lab behind Yoko and closed the metal door. The sound of the water stopped, the glass wall dividing the lab and the reservoir apparently being soundproof. Alyssa looked around and said, "Let's hurry. We need to find that container."

Yoko looked around, apparently at a loss of where to start. Alyssa saw that the walls were lined with shelves which reached up to the ceiling, holding flasks and bottles of different sizes. A lab station was set up in the middle of the room, with chemical bottles strewn across the table, apparently abandoned in the middle of an experiment.

"What did the other container look like?" Yoko asked.

Alyssa approached the shelf opposite and scanned it up and down.

"Like that!" she said.

Both women spun around as something hit the glass wall of the lab.

The bottom of the transparent wall was obscured by a panel of consoles on the other side, and a large crack had been created on the wall above. After another moment something jumped up and hit the same spot again. In the half second it was visible, Alyssa saw that it was another gamma hunter, and it was followed by another two as they launched themselves against the wall at the same time. The creatures were following their sensitive ears and, without the use of vision, were reduced to thrusting their ravenous bodies in the direction of the two creatures who had invaded their home. Alyssa and Yoko shared a look and then ran for the shelf.

"Just grab two bottles," Alyssa said, tucking the revolver into the back of her trousers.

Yoko nodded and took two of the cylindrical containers from the shelf Alyssa had pointed at.

"What now?" Yoko said.

"We have to make a run for the office again," Alyssa said.

Yoko nodded and both women flinched as the creatures threw themselves at the wall again.

"Ready?" Alyssa said.

The pair were forced into action as one of the gamma hunters finally came crashing through the wall, rolling across the floor of the lab and taking a whole shelf of bottles down with it. Alyssa ran for the door, cradling two containers against her chest as she opened it and stepped outside. She began sprinting for the bridge, moving awkwardly as she tried not to drop the flasks. Yoko was right behind her, and as they reached the bridge the two other gamma hunters had just jumped into the lab behind their friend. By the time they sensed that the women had left the room, Alyssa was at the door to the office and had opened it, accidentally dropping one of the containers as Yoko rushed past. Alyssa slammed the door shut. She was already out of breath but made her way immediately to the console, inserting the container into its slot and closing the flap.

"_Extract P-base Y/N?_" the screen asked.

Alyssa pressed the green button and the console started up, whirring loudly for a few seconds before the sound of a liquid filling the container could be heard.

A loud bang filled the room as something slammed the door from the other side

"Come on, come on," Alyssa said, grabbing the sides of the console.

The flap in the console pinged open like a microwave.

"_P-base extraction complete,_" the screen said.

Alyssa carefully took the liquid, afraid to drop it in her sweating palms, and held it tightly to her body.

"Let's get out of here," she said.

Alyssa handed Yoko the revolver and instructed her to open the doors ahead as she carried the precious liquid to its rightful home. They made their way back through the empty corridors, the banging continuing in the office behind them, until they finally reached the elevator again. Yoko pressed the 'up' button and the doors opened immediately. Stepping inside, Yoko pressed the button for the second floor and Alyssa held the P-base tighter than ever, afraid the elevator would jolt suddenly and send the container crashing to the floor.

Arriving on the second floor, Yoko and Alyssa stepped out and stopped in their tracks. In front of them, towards the end of the short corridor leading to the university's main laboratories, they saw that a large hole had been created in the middle of the floor. They approached the hole carefully, peering down and seeing that it reached down five stories, right to the depths of the bottom basement level. Alyssa and Yoko shared another inquiring look.

"I don't want to know what made that," Alyssa said.

Yoko nodded in agreement.

"The labs are just through here," Yoko said.

As they passed through the door to the lab prep room, Alyssa thought to herself that when she escaped this place she never wanted to see another lab, pool or animal ever again. The prep room was incredibly messy. Binders and folders had been pulled off the shelves encircling the room, and the floor was barely visible through the layer of papers covering it. Apparently someone had been desperately searching for something.

Yoko opened the door to the next room, where rows of lab stations and benches stretched almost from wall to wall. At the end of the room was another strange machine. The pair approached it and Alyssa smiled with glee.

"The incubator!" she cried, almost forgetting she was carrying the P-base as she jumped in the air.

"Fuck yes!" she said.

Yoko laughed and Alyssa smiled at her. She approached the machine and saw three identically shaped cylindrical shafts connected to the main body of the console.  
"What? There's already two containers there," Alyssa said.

Inserting the P-base into one of the shafts, Alyssa lifted one of the other containers and saw that it contained a yellow liquid.

"The V-poison?" Yoko asked.

Alyssa stared at the liquid and then carefully put the container back in the shaft. She lifted the other, which contained a small amount of blood.

"Where are Cindy and George?"

Alyssa stared at the incubator thoughtfully.

"Well?" Yoko asked again.

"I don't know," Alyssa said, dropping the T-blood back into the shaft.


	8. Heaven's Gate

In the dying city, most of the pre-dawn light was coming from fires that would never be put out. Homes and office towers continued to be eaten up by the flames, the sound of crackling wood audible even above the groans of the monsters in the street. The sky had turned from black to deep purple as the U.B.C.S van stopped outside Raccoon University, the only building for miles still powered. Half a dozen men filed out of the back of the truck soundlessly, the last man taking his time to make sure no one was around before he headed to the front gate. He picked up his pace to catch up with his team, running just behind a pair of men carrying a large crate of explosives. As he continued, he took a small radio transmitter from his jacket pocket and spoke into it,

"This is Ginovaef. We are entering now, stand by."

* * *

Cindy's heart was already pounding as she thought of the monumental task ahead. She was used to George's company now, the nights spent alone together in the office at the police station having gradually lessened the initial awkwardness Cindy had felt towards him. And they had been lying next to each other, lost in the abeyance of sleep not two hours ago when Marvin had flicked the light on and brought them back to the brutality of the real world. In a way Cindy recognised was cowardly, she had held onto the impossible delusion of staying inside the precinct for the rest of her life. She had pictured herself growing old with George within the same four walls of that office, never needing to leave because the officers outside were always working, always watching for danger.

That, coupled with the little sleep she had had, made her want to slump back into the corner of the elevator and stay there forever. They could take turns pressing the buttons, she thought. Up and down, up and down, and never face what was outside.

"Let's go," George said.

The pair hurried down the silent hallway to the door at the end, and Cindy inhaled expectantly as George swung it open. At first, the waterway, a wide tunnel that snaked right and left, was almost completely dark to their unadjusted eyes. Aged ceiling lights were still on, but as Cindy looked up he saw that they were half-concealed behind a stringy white substance. She could barely see the bottom of the steps leading down to the tunnel, but she caught sight of something scuttling across the floor, disappearing around a bend in the passage.

"Oh, George, no…" Cindy whispered, backing back into the corridor.

"Cindy, this is the quickest way through. Hold my hand and we'll run.

Cindy bit her lip, weighing up her options.

"I'll guide you through, I promise," George said.

Cindy nodded, stretching out her hand. George grabbed it and they stepped into the nest.

A few steps down to the tunnel, Cindy let go of George's hands and began shaking, opening her mouth to scream. George turned around and quickly put his finger to his lips. A spider which was longer than George was tall crawled about two yards in front of them, continuing up onto the wall and then coming to a stop near the ceiling. George stood for a moment, debating how to proceed and unable to tear his gaze away from the beast. Cindy's thought process was less methodical and much more immediate, and she broke into a panicked run, taking each step down to the waterway three at a time and hurtling to the ground at the bottom. She hit the shallow water in the passage with a devastatingly powerful splash.

The spider dropped to the floor in front of George, turning its oversized body with what looked like considerable effort to face the intrusive noise. George was almost as fascinated as he was terrified as the spider began making a very loud spitting sound. How many scientists had had to study creatures such as these behind the lens of sophisticated and distancing equipment? And here he was, standing right behind one, able to make out the silhouette of the hairs on its body. As the spider crawled down the steps towards Cindy, George aimed his pistol and fired three times. The spider charged ahead and crashed into the wall at the bottom, one of its fat legs landing inches from her stomach. George bounded down the stairs and stopped just in front of the spider, firing four more shots into the back of its abdomen. The spider thrashed towards the corner of the corridor and came to a stop at the wall.

George forced Cindy up, clutching her with one arm.

"Close your eyes," he said.

She did do, allowing herself to be led down to the middle of the corridor. Three more spiders, equally large, were facing them, one on the ceiling and the other two on either wall. George forced himself to stop breathing and turned his free arm behind him, firing a shot at the back wall. The spiders leapt into action, scurrying past them on all sides as they went to investigate the noise. George silently grabbed Cindy's hand and they ran to the end of the corridor. Speeding around another corner, George jumped onto a raised ledge, then helped Cindy up and took her hand again as they ran to the next door. The tunnel behind them, George slammed the door shut and did a quick turn of his head, taking in the enormous space they were in. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, he finally started breathing again.

He looked at Cindy and saw that she was completely white, and she slumped to her knees.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She looked up at him, catching her breath.

"My stomach hurts. I'm going to be sick,"

George was about to speak again when Cindy leant onto all fours and vomited on the ground. He debated whether she would prefer him to look away or rub her back, but she quickly finished and then stood up again to face him.

"What the darn is going on here?" she asked.

George shook his head.

"Perhaps Umbrella was doing more here than antiviral research," he said.

"But, those creatures…How could they be so big?"

George shook his head again and stared out into the passage. They were on the platform of a subway station, although George knew the city's small underground rail network enough to know that no train stopped here any longer. The tracks led out of a tunnel to the right and into another on the left, and George knew that they had to continue to the left to reach the tower.

"I would love to hear what Umbrella has to say," was all he said.

Cindy nodded, looking around.

"We should keep going," George said, looking back to Cindy. "Will you be okay?"

She was breathing deeply, and actually wanted to be sick again, but simply said, "Yes."

George hopped down onto the tracks, mentally counting how many bullets were left in the pistol's magazine. He reckoned he'd fired about eight shots back in the tunnel, so had seven left. When Cindy hopped down next to him, he took her hand with a natural swing of the arm and they headed up to the tunnel. Cindy stopped again at the entrance.

"What if there's something else in the dark?" she said.

George stared at the vast emptiness in front of him, mentally willing a light to come on inside.

"I don't hear anything," he said, trying to reassure himself. "We should just hurry through."

Cindy nodded and they entered the mouth of the subway tunnel.

The walk in the dark was mercifully short. After several minutes they reached a bend in the tunnel and saw that it opened out into a large chamber similar to the one they had just left. Cindy came to a stop suddenly and George stumbled on the uneven ground. The area looked like a construction site, except that there were no cranes, scaffolding or tools lying around. The left side of the double track was occupied by a motionless train. On the right side, a massive hole in the tracks led down to a vast space below. Apparently, they were standing on hollow ground above the university's lower basements.

"We'll have to walk around that, grab my hand."

She followed directly behind and they reached the door to the tower in a few moments.

The corridor was darker than the previous chamber, a single light on the wall flickering and throwing shadows along its length as they ran to the end.

"This is the emission tower," George said. "If Peter was right, there's a hive in here, so we have to be prepared."

Cindy looked at him, stopping herself from asking how exactly they could prepare themselves.

"Let's do it," she said.

George led Cindy down the short corridor and opened the door onto another industrial area. The tower was massive, stretching up hundreds of feet to its dark summit. They were awed, taking in the height and expanse of the area, and, not hearing any sound except the echoing wind billowing up the length of the chamber, allowing themselves a moment to take it in.

"What do they need this for?" Cindy asked, staring upwards.

George didn't know if she meant the university or Umbrella, and could have asked the same himself.

"I don't know. It's amazing this structure stretches so far underground."

Cindy continued staring upwards, then lowered her head and looked around. Indeed, it was far bigger than it seemed from the outside.  
"I guess we should go up top," she said.

George followed her gaze to a large elevator platform about twenty yards away. It was caged in and the wide doors stood open, a green light above them apparently indicating it was ready to be used.

"I don't see anything else down here. Let's go," he said.

Cindy stepped onto the platform and looked around, unable to keep her gaze from wandering upwards again as she saw how high the metal fencing of the elevator shaft rose.

"Unreal," she said.

George followed her inside and looked at the control panel by the door. It was simple enough, a button to close the doors and another to send the elevator up. He pressed each one and the machine came to life, rising smoothly and slowly upwards. Cindy eased herself down onto the floor of the platform, letting out a groan like a tired worker who's just come home and settled into his favourite chair.

"Are you okay?" George said, moving over to her.

"I don't know," she replied, looking up at him. "I still feel kind of sick. I don't know if I can do this much longer."

George came closer to her, letting his hand rest on her head and smoothing her hair back softly with a steady hand. Cindy smiled, superficially reassured by the gesture.

"We're almost there," he said. "As long as the others made it we'll have the cure in no time," he said.

Cindy raised her hand for George to take and he helped her back onto her feet.

"Of course they're okay," she said, painting a smile on her tired face. "Alyssa's a tough one, and Yoko's smart enough to know what to do."

George smiled back and then looked up.

"Do you hear that?" he said.

As the elevator neared the top of the tower, a humming sound became increasingly apparent. The pair exchanged an uneasy look, and the elevator finally reached the highest level, still far below the summit of the tower.

"There," George said, pointing behind Cindy.

She turned around and saw that the walls surrounding the top level of the tower were covered in an amber-coloured rock-like coating, which reminded George of the surface of an indoor climbing wall. Moving around the area were wasps, each one at least as big as a domestic cat, working diligently to build and maintain their home.

"They're adding to the artificial hive," George said, walking to the edge of the platform and putting his face to the caged wall.

"Those eggs," he said, continuing to peer out, "there are so many of them."

Cindy bit her lip, staring at the industrious creatures working obliviously to their presence. She chastised herself for not expecting the wasps to be as big as they were.  
"What are we meant to do?" she said.

George scanned the area quickly, counting the wasps.

"There are no more than ten of them," he said. "We're lucky the eggs haven't hatched yet."

Cindy shivered as a wasp passed the edge of the cage in front of George. She didn't consider having to face more oversized insects particularly fortuitous, especially those that could fly.

"Come here," George said. "You see that trolley over there? It's full of bottles. Someone has already harvested the poison, so we just need to grab some and then head out that door to the outside.

"Okay," Cindy said. "Let's do this quickly."

George walked back to the control panel and opened the doors, wincing at the loud mechanical sound as they opened. He stepped out, grabbing his pistol again, and made his way around the metal catwalk circling the wall of the tower. Cindy crept behind him, unable to stop herself wondering if Alyssa and Yoko had had this much trouble obtaining their part of the cure. George reached the part of the wall where the hive started, again unable to stifle his fascination of seeing a natural structure such as this in such detail. The wasps kept working, continuing their labour in instinctual harmony despite their grossly inflated bodies. George slowed his pace and put his hand up behind him to signal Cindy to do the same. The wasps hadn't seemed to notice them yet, and Cindy, peering around George's protective frame, estimated they were about fifteen yards from the trolley.

As the bottles stacked on the trolley came into view, Cindy saw that some of them lay scattered on the floor, a few broken and lying in the thick yellow liquid they contained. Cindy guessed the wasps had knocked them accidentally as they had flown around, as they presently seemed completely disinterested in the stack containing the poison they had produced. As they finally reached the trolley, George tentatively stretched out one hand and grabbed one, just as one of the wasps flew past not half a metre from his face.

Cindy froze, this time able to control herself and focus all her energy on simply not moving. Following the advice she had heard a hundred times as a child, she did her best to become part of the scenery and merely try not to bother the insect. It passed them slowly, its body bobbing as its wings flapped audibly and incredibly quickly to keep its body up. His hand still outstretched, George wondered if he was imagining the sweat forming in the palm holding the poison sample, and he prayed that he was. With the slightest movement, he gripped it more tightly and closed his eyes. The sound of the wasp's wings died away and George opened them again. He let his arm fall by his side, sample still in hand, and let out a relieved gasp.

Two more wasps approached them immediately, their horrifying faces visible in agonising clarity. Cindy took action first again, pushing George from behind to force him into motion. As they began running, the buzzing of the wasps' wings grew feverishly louder, and they approached the running pair before moving back again, apparently testing how to make contact with the apparent threat. The door was practically in arm's reach when one of the wasps zipped forwards and pierced George's body. The stinger stabbed George's arm with the force and violence of a bayonet, ripping outwards again as the wasp moved back to assess its next attack. George fell to the ground with a sharp cry, the poison flying from his hand and rolling off the edge of the catwalk to the bottom of the tower and his gun falling at his side.

"Get up!" Cindy screamed, grabbing George by the shoulder and trying to lift him with one exhausted hand.

He lumbered upwards and slapped his hand onto the door handle, opening it with the force of his weight as he fell into the next room. Cindy flew in behind him and slammed the door shut, slipping to the floor with her back to it. The buzzing on the other side continued tirelessly as the pair gasped for air.

"The sample…" George mumbled.

Cindy lifted her right arm and showed him what she was holding.

"Got one," she said.

George forced himself upwards, clutching his injured arm and limping to where Cindy was sitting.

"You are a genius," he said, his voice still a whisper.

"Your arm…is it bad?" Cindy asked.

George removed his hand from the wound. The stinger had entered clean and precise as an injection, leaving a round mark that wasn't bleeding.

"My God, it hurts," he said, putting his hand back and closing his eyes. "I'm poisoned now."

Cindy looked at him anxiously.

"We're about to drink this," she said, waving the sample. "It's obviously meant to be mixed with the other ingredients and swallowed."

George opened his eyes, taking in Cindy's reasoning and turning it around in his head before speaking.

"We don't even know how much they tested this. So much relies on luck," he replied.

Cindy stared at him, her breathing finally starting to slow down again. She was used to being cheerful despite what anyone said, but in that moment it took all the strength she had to smile again at George. He smiled back, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead and running to the tip of his nose. With another burst of effort, she raised herself carefully back onto her feet and offered George a hand.

"Let's go meet the others," she said.

Helping George to his feet, Cindy had to wrap her arms around him to stop him falling, and as he stumbled he knocked her back against the door, and for an awful moment Cindy thought she was going to drop the sample.

"Do you think you're okay to walk?" she asked, his body still pinning her against the door.

"I'll have to be," he said.

Cindy wished she was big enough to carry George back to the lab. But her 5'2" frame was already burdened with a lack of sleep and a growing nausea she didn't want to mention.

"_If I stop for another second I don't think I'll be able to get up again,_" she thought, making her way up the length of the corridor they found themselves in.

George kept up the pace, albeit with a laboured gait that told Cindy he probably wouldn't survive another hit. Praying that the way ahead was clear, Cindy opened the next door and stepped outside to the courtyard.

A masked figure swept in from the side and hit Cindy in the face with the butt of its machine gun.

* * *

"My stomach…" Alyssa said.

Two empty containers lay on the workbench. Alyssa was gripping her belly, unsure if the growing ache was from the terrible taste of the Daylight or proof that it was working. She just hoped it wasn't a negative reaction.

"How do you feel?" she asked Yoko.

"The same," Yoko said.

They looked up as a loud noise resonated from somewhere in the next room.

"Is that them?" Yoko said.

Alyssa took the gun out of her pocket and approached the door a few metres from the incubator.

"Could be," she said.

Alyssa opened the door into the next room, and instinctively almost doubled back when she saw what was in there.

"Damn," Alyssa said.

"What is it?" Yoko asked, entering the room behind her.

They were in one of the university's main laboratories. The workstations and teaching equipment had all been cleared away to make room for rows of gurneys. Lying on top were the lifeless bodies of the people the scientists had used to carry out their research on the cure.

"Oh…my God," Yoko whispered.

Alyssa approached the closest gurney and looked at the corpse.

"I don't think these ones are getting up," Alyssa said.

Next to the bed was a trolley with surgical tools, and from where she was standing Alyssa had a good view of the man's entrails.

"What's that?" Yoko said.

Alyssa followed Yoko's gaze to the opposite end of the room. A plastic sheet separated the two areas, a flickering light from the next room casting white images on it.

Alyssa broke into a run, dodging the mutilated corpses as she neared the doorway. She threw the sheet aside and stepped into the next room. A row of desks had been pushed together at the far end, each housing a group of computer monitors. On the floor was a large projector.

"My apologies for this place being so hectic," Greg said.

Alyssa stopped in her tracks, amazed to see another survivor again.

"I have been monitoring your progress from here," he continued. "I am grateful for your assistance."

He took time with his words, his voice monotonous and confident.

"Assistance?" Alyssa said. "Who are you?"

Yoko stood next to her, squinting at the face at the other end of the room.

"'Daylight' is it, the only resource against the T-virus," he replied, ignoring her question. "You've taken it, haven't you? Believe me, it works," he continued.

"Are you infected?" Alyssa asked.

"No, but Daylight is humanity's last chance. I can't let it be destroyed with the rest of the city, and I can't give it over to Umbrella."

Alyssa continued staring at Greg, still holding her gun tightly but aiming it downwards.

"I asked you who you are," Alyssa said.

"We were amazed when we actually succeeded in making it. We had a lot of it, too, until that damned creature destroyed it all."

His voice cracked, and Alyssa thought he sounded like he was about to snap.  
"What creature?" Alyssa asked. She was beginning to wonder if this man had kept his sanity in the face of what he had done to his test subjects.

"Thanatos – Death incarnate. I made him, but he's not right. He seemed to take a particular disliking to the Daylight samples, and he smashed them all. I looked but there wasn't even one left, and by then the whole place had gone to hell. Then you showed up, and managed to get the ingredients. It's lucky there were just two of you. I see you saved one?"

From Alyssa's breast pocket, the bright yellow liquid of the last Daylight sample was just visible.

"Who are you?" Alyssa said, aiming the gun at Greg.

"Greg Mueller. Yoko hasn't told you about me?"

Alyssa turned to Yoko.

"You know him?"

Yoko looked away. Alyssa took the gesture as avoidance, but she was actually trying to think.

"Yoko, it's been two years. Oh, but you might not know that," Greg said.

Yoko snapped her head up to look at him.

"After all, what happened was so terrible. I'd think a bioweapon guinea pig would want to erase such an ordeal from their memory."

Yoko's legs swayed like palm trees in a hurricane. Greg's words unlocked a dark part of her brain, spilling its contents into her consciousness with all the force of a flash flood. Alyssa had to grab her arm to keep her steady.

"Where are George and Cindy?" Alyssa asked.

Greg furrowed his brow and then smiled as realisation hit.

"The two who got here first? The U.B.C.S caught up with them on their way here. They had the poison on them, as you saw. And the woman's infected blood was used as the second element. We just had to wait for you to come back with the last piece of the puzzle."

Alyssa's mouth swung open. Greg's statement raised many questions, but most shocking of all was that it was Cindy's blood they'd just drank.

"Where are they?" she demanded.

"They're outside. The U.B.C.S want to use them to distract Thanatos so they have a chance to get a DNA sample from it, and prove it exists."

Before any of them could say another word, a single gunshot rang out in the room.

As the women snapped their heads up, they had just enough time to see the hole in the base of Greg's chin, blood rushing out like water from a broken fountain as he fell to the floor. Blood splashed against the projector's lens and turned the cycling white images on the wall a dirty red. Hearing heavy footsteps in the ventilation system above their heads, they instinctively took cover under the row of desks.

"Who was that?" Yoko asked.

"Shut up!" Alyssa whispered.

The footsteps disappeared, and the drone of the computers was all that could be heard.

"I don't think he's after us," Alyssa finally said.

She stepped out from under the desk, pointing her gun upwards and listening for any sound from above.

"Come out," she instructed.

Yoko slid out and stood up.

"Are you okay?" Alyssa asked.

"Yes," Yoko said.

Alyssa patted her pocket to make sure the last sample was still intact.

"Okay, we need to get outside."

* * *

Nicholai Ginovaef scurried across the length of the shaft, moving incredibly quickly in a position most people would have found very uncomfortable. He reached a bend in the shaft and stopped, setting himself down on the ground and kicking at a metal tile. It came loose with one hit. He removed the tile, placing it next to him, and held onto the edge of the space, lowering his body into the room and letting himself fall. He stood quickly, taking a swift look around him before taking out his radio transmittor.

"Moore, this is Nicholai, do you copy?"

"This is Moore, copy."

"Charges are set, remove your team immediately."

* * *

The pair retraced their steps, hurrying back to the elevator at the back of the lab rooms and descending to the first floor again. Alyssa knew she should be relieved. The nausea was fading, which she took to mean that the cure had worked. If they could escape the city, she and Yoko were going to live. But that was a big 'if', and she was painfully aware of the fact that the incubator had only given them one spare sample. Who would they give it to? Were Cindy and George even still alive?

Her cyclonic thoughts and emotions still bearing heavily on her, Alyssa pushed open the university's front doors and stepped outside. It was very cold. The sky was almost blue now, the ginger autumn sun beginning to illuminate the courtyard. Alyssa looked around as Yoko arrived behind her. She stepped down onto the courtyard and turned in all directions, not knowing where to go.

"Outside, where outside?" she said.

"There are gardens and parking lots around the whole building," Yoko said. "There's a big loading bay that way."  
Alyssa followed Yoko's gaze to the north, where a tall wooden gate led to the next area.

"Let's go see," she said.

Alyssa ran to the door and swung it open, stepping into a large garden area.

"_So this is where they all are,_" she thought.

Amongst the trees and flower beds of the vast garden, dozens of zombies were gathered together. Some were standing still, others ambling in various directions. They were strangely quiet, and Alyssa was fascinated by the sight. She pointed to a metal staircase leading up to the fire escape, and Yoko nodded. They tread carefully, making their way to a catwalk running along the outside of the first floor of the building and then leading back down to the other side of the garden. Before descending, Alyssa took her camera out, taking photographs of the crowd below. She was devastated at how many missed opportunities had preceded this moment, and she wasn't going to waste this one. Alyssa finally descended and opened the next door very carefully, gesturing for Yoko to enter first. Alyssa followed behind and gently pulled the door closed.

They were in the loading bay. An enormous semi-trailer truck stood in front of them, its trailer missing but its length covering the entire width of the area. Alyssa approached it, hauling herself onto the trailer platform and then lending her hand to help pull Yoko up. They hopped down on the other side, Alyssa feeling terrified the entire time that she was going to drop the sample. This end of the lot was bright, the morning sunlight shining over the walls surrounding it. Alyssa could see plainly enough that two figures were lying on the ground about thirty metres away.

As she neared the bodies, the force of an explosion from the university knocked her to the ground, her right side hitting the concrete painfully. Another explosion followed, and she wrapped her arms around her head and closed her eyes. A succession of blasts sent objects flying from the smashed windows; tables, chairs and pieces of brick flew across the length of the university courtyards. The supports holding the building were smashed to pieces, sending the ground of each floor tumbling into the one below. The base of the tower was blown apart, sending the top crashing down into the main building, a huge cloud of smoke blowing up into the air. When the explosions finally stopped, Alyssa opened her eyes.

* * *

The firefighter rescue helicopter tore through the air, the pilot steering it eastwards as quickly as possible.

"_Fifteen minutes_," Gill thought. "_We might just make it_."

He whipped his head down as an explosion next to the river sent smoke and debris flying into the air.

"What was that?" he shouted.

The pilot slowed to get a look as they approached the river.

"Get me down there!" Gill said.

* * *

Yoko lay on the ground, her eyes open and blank.

"Yoko?" Alyssa wailed, rolling across to her.

Yoko looked at her, her senses slowly returning.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Alyssa said, forcing herself up onto her feet.

Her clothes were covered in dust, but they had managed to avoid the debris now littering the parking lot. She looked ahead and saw that the two other figures were still lying in the same position across from them.

"Cindy!" Alyssa cried, staggering towards them.

A dark figure flew from the ruins of the university, landing in front of Alyssa with a crash that felt as strong as the explosions. Alyssa wondered if she was dead as she finally stared up at the face of Death. Thanatos raised its mutated, muscular body and looked down at her. It was proportioned like a man, albeit an eight-foot tall one, everything in the right place. Everything except its hands, which were four sizes too big and adorned with nails shaped like knives. Its heart was protruding from the chest, visibly beating but somehow able to support the creature exposed as it was. Dressed in nothing more than tight, black underpants, Alyssa could only stare up and ask herself if this were some unwelcome fantasy she had sunk into. Thanatos looked down at her with white, seemingly sightless eyes. Alyssa fell onto her back, unable to scream as the creature leant over her. Its blank expression switched to one of anger. Hatred, even. It supported itself on one gigantic hand as it lowered itself very close to her. Alyssa could feel its breath on her face as it lifted its free arm into the air, the claws vibrating against the blue sky.

"_This is it,_" she thought.

Half a second before the creature decided to strike, Alyssa grabbed the Daylight from her pocket and thrust it into Thanatos' unmasked heart.

The bottle smashed, small drops of the sun-coloured liquid falling back onto Alyssa as most of it was quickly absorbed by the beating heart. The creature was flung backwards, as if hit by a sonic wave, and struggled to stay standing as the 'cure' worked its way around its body, neutralising the very virus that had created it. With a bass-deep cry, it fell onto its back, twitching.

Alyssa lay on her back, unable to stop shaking like she was having a seizure. A face appeared, and her eyes adjusted to see Yoko standing over her. Incredulous, she offered her a hand and Alyssa grabbed it, standing back up and looking down at the fallen beast. It had stopped moving, its eyes bright and round as pearls in the sunshine. Still shaking, she looked into Yoko's face, both of them still speechless, and then looked up as a voice from the skies spoke down to them.

"Is anyone down there? We're here to get you out!"

The women turned this heads upwards, shielding their eyes with their hands.

"There's a courtyard on the east side. Go there! Hurry!"

The helicopter, buffeted by the wind, veered suddenly to the east and disappeared behind a row of trees as it descended.

* * *

The helicopter rose from the ground, fighting the wind to stay airborne as it cleared the treeline and advanced out and away from the city. 10,000 feet in the air, Alyssa could see the entire city in its final moments. It looked small and isolated, a burning mess surrounded by the trees and mountains. Two minutes passed, and a succession of missiles hurtled past them from the east, speeding through the sky like dragonflies on fire. The helicopter was already miles away when the cruise missiles hit, burning up dozens of square miles in seconds. Raccoon City was burnt up in moments, waves of fire expanding from each target to engulf everything around it.

Alyssa leaned back, more exhausted than she thought was possible. Her brain was already predicting her near future as her entire past disappeared behind her. She had no home, no job and nobody left. But there would be articles to right, photographs to publish, and she would continue as she always did. There was work to be done. For now, though, she could do nothing but sleep.

* * *

Five minutes earlier.

Cindy's ponytail flew wildly around her as the helicopter took off, speeding away in an instant and growing smaller as it flew up higher into the sky.

"Our freedom would come at too high a price," she said.

"And so we remain," George replied, standing behind her.

He approached her, putting his arm around her shoulders as they looked on at the disappearing chopper. Cindy walked forwards and spun around to face him, her face lit by the sunlight and the burning remains of the university.

The firefighter's words were still ringing in her mind.

"_This town's about to be vaporised. It's a last-ditch attempt to contain the disaster. If you don't come now, you'll die_."

"I'm feeling strange," George said, taking Cindy's arm as she put it against his chest.

"Me too," she said.

"It will all be over soon," he said, looking down at the ground.

Cindy cupped George's chin with her hand and smiled. He smiled back, reacting for the last time to her irresistible optimism.

Cindy looked up suddenly as something caught her eye. George followed her gaze and saw bright shapes moving towards them, glowing like shooting stars above the rising sun. As the shapes moved downwards, George moved closer to Cindy, grabbing her by the shoulder again and taking in the view of the dragonflies coming home.

* * *

**Author's note: I'd like to say a huge thank you to CJJS, who has read every chapter of this story from the beginning and encouraged me with his praise and comments.**


End file.
